MindPlay
by Grimstep5
Summary: Konoha wished to create the perfect weapon, an invincible machine of a man, a killer, a tool, his name is Naruto. However, in the attempt they triggered the growth of the most radical movement in Shinobi history... and his name is Naruto.
1. Message Received

I have not that much to say, new Fiction, read it, review if you feel the need to or just PM. Tell what you think, thanx, and on with the story. Oh a before that I'd just like to say sorry about my uber long absence, been busy with other things. But I realize that you readers are most important so I don't want to leave you hanging.. or something like that.. So yeah... stuff.

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MindPlay

Sarutobi Hiruzen, the third Hokage, the professor, and the rock that currently held this village together... felt terrible. His hand trembled, holding within it his partially tobacco filled pipe that dangled loosely in between his fingers. Ash fell to the oak of his table and he stared at it bitterly. Ash, a remnant of what something one was. In a way, it was the village; as of now that was all that the village was.

A remnant.

Something had happen to his people, they had seen the light, a bad light. It'd blinded them severely.

The early, crepuscular rays of dawn pierced the cloud tops, looking much like little silver spears protruding from the border of heaven. In his chair, which had wheels—a feature he always enjoyed—he spun around to face the window, to face the clouds.

"Kami, what have I done?"

It wasn't really all his fault though, the village council did most of this, they finally got what they wanted. He couldn't stop them either, so why was he even the Hokage? Was his status just a title? Was the Hokage just the puppet controlled by the dangerous hands of the village council?

Dismayed, he brought one hand up to massage his forehead, rubbing softly to sooth the migraine already forming.

Yes, they finally got what they wanted.

Uzumaki Naruto would now be used as a, soldier, a weapon. And if he didn't comply... they would see to it that the boy lost more than he could ever recover from.

This all started around the Chunin exams. His upsetting display of combat certainly pleased the crowed, outwardly it did, but things were much more covert. On the inside, people looked at him with contempt. It started off as adulation but then people began to talk, people began to say things.

_No way, he must have cheated_—They said.

_He isn't legit, that fight was rigged—_They said.

It all lead to the simple and false dogma, that Hyuuga Neji should have won. But that was only milestone number one, number two came after Naruto's victory over Sabaku no Gaara, the one-tailed Jinchuuriki. It was less known than Naruto's altercation with Neji, thankfully, but it still hurt the boy's reputation. But what really hurt the boy was the one upsetting... and completely disturbing... "victory" that Naruto had attained. His match against Uchiha Sasuke, the sole survivor of the Uchiha clan. Sarutobi remembered the scene vividly, he remembered it in such a way that every _single _time he thought about it would send a chill traveling down his spine.

If he remembered clearly... oh and he did... Naruto literally dragged Sasuke's brutalized body back to Konoha, bloodied and scarred, by the ankles. Two grotesque gray wings that looked disturbingly like hands, sprouted from Sasuke's back and by what he'd seen, Naruto had cruelly broken those "hands". The blood was abundant, leaking and pouring from the open raw wound in Naruto's stomach that exposed bulging intestines for the world to gaze at in disgust. Sasuke's injury was worse, Naruto had gotten lucky, the damage that Sasuke had inflicted on him, in comparison to what he'd done, was sub-par by far.

Sarutobi shuddered, expurgating his mind of the thought.

The door to his rear swayed open with a loud groan, ensued by the sound of footsteps on a dry wood floor.

He simply leaned back further into his chair, letting it swallow him. That's right, his status really was just a title, thanks to Orochimaru. He was the Hokage but he had not the physical prowess to show it, not anymore. He was a shell of his former self, far ahead of his own stream of time. The Hokage had been damaged and handicapped, internally, by the likes of Orochimaru. Just like the village, he was a remnant.

"Are you ready for your medicine Hokage-sama?"

"Later, give me a few moments to myself, come back in two minutes."

"Yes, Hokage-sama", the feminine voice said sweetly; what he heard next was the door creaking to a close once more.

He shouldn't have survived that fight with Orochimaru, really, he should be dead right now. Yet, he lived. In the end, he couldn't go through with it and the Reaper Death Seal was not applied, at least not to him. Beneath his robes, he produced a small scroll with wrinkles that rippled like the sand in a dessert. His eyes went back up to the sky.

"Enma, you were a good comrade and an even better friend." His wrinkled skin tightened around his fingers as he squeezed the scroll in his shaky grip. No it wasn't him who had performed the Shiki Fuin, it was Enma, the Monkey King and one of the few summons ever capable of performing such an act. He was truly great and now he was gone, forever, all Sarutobi had now was the scroll that he'd signed his name in when he made the contract with Enma.

As of now, Anbu were probably on their way to Naruto's home, he would know. He gave the order himself, shamefully and reluctantly.

Now Naruto would be taken away, but that didn't explain why the ends of Sarutobi Hiruzen's lips were curling upward. Why was he smiling? Why was he happy?

Because, despite him being just the Hokage, the fact of the matter was that _he_ was the Hokage. _He_ had his ways and _he_ had connections. And powerful ones too...

Naruto would be okay. As for him, however, his time was up... he needed a replacement...and an aspirin.

The Hokage closed his eyes, the smile still ruling his face. His two minutes were up. "Okay, I'm ready for my medicine now."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

_It happened pretty fast, too fast for Naruto in his opinion and boy, it was terrifying. One moment he was sprawled out all over his bed having one of THE best dreams in his life ad the next minute, there was a bag over his head._

_His window had been left open, that was his first mistake. It allowed for the Anbu member to glide easily through and land on his burnished wood flooring without a sound. For a moment the monkey-masked Anbu loomed over Naruto, taking in the boy's unorthodox sleeping mannerisms with high levels of disgust. Most people, when subject to sleeping habits, sucked their thumbs._

_This blond kid on the other hand... he could suck on his own __toe, gross..._

_The Anbu placed one hand on his hip, leaning ever-so slightly to the left and shaking his head. "__This child is our weapon, Konoha, you have fallen. Even our Jinchuuriki looks like a chump." The white of his mask effectively hid the hanging bottom lip and twitching eyebrow. How could the guy even sleep like that? Naruto was curled in a ball, his right foot bent so that his foot loomed close to his lips, how?_

_"I can't bear to see this," He said, producing a small, empty, potato sack. "And on we go." His mission was simple, retrieve the kid, bring him to HQ, and debrief. Not much work, but he couldn't help but feel that this was wrong. He was kidnapping someone, a child, this wasn't some innocuous act, rather this was crime. Taking him, casting him into the life that he was surely going to hate, something like that was mentally scarring, especially on a child._

_But orders were orders. "Rise and shine!" The Anbu cried out, well mentally._

_Naruto's eyes snapped open, the rush of shock running through his system pried them open. He only had a few moments to descry the monkey mask before his vision was invaded by the plain brown potato sack sliding over his face. What the fuck was going on? The surprise, the fear, the anxiety running through him, he could feel it forcing the sound from his lungs._

_When the scream came, it was immediately suppressed by an invisible hand slapping his mouth shut. The hand applied pressure and he felt his head being pushed back until it collided with the floor. "Don't struggle." He heard._

_He heard it, but he didn't listen, hell no, he would never listen. Naruto flailed, thrashing about wildly in a blind swinging of arms and legs. One of his arms met resistance, the very firm grip of a trained Anbu. Air rushed from his lungs in the form of a yell as that arm was bent back, painfully, very painfully and placed behind his back. _

_How the hell did this happen, one moment he was sleeping peacefully, dreaming about eating some ramen and the next he was getting attacked and tied by some weirdo monkey-masked Anbu. Naruto was on his belly, through the sack on his head he could feel the soft bed sheets collide with his face when the Anbu smashed his face against his own bed. _

_"What the fuck...let...me-...go! Shit, the sack stinks!" _

_Then he heard the voice, closer no, almost right beside his ear. Naruto froze from the chill of killer intent that washed over him. Paralyzing._

_"Are you ready brat," the man said in a shaky almost crazed voice. He was breathing pretty harshly. "You're going to be just like me, alright? You are to be our little weapon from now on, the Hokage has protected you this far, but after the scars Orochimaru left him with, he won't be a problem. Are you ready boy? Are you ready _Kyuubi?"

_The word tore through, crashed through, shattered his very being. It hurt to be called that, Kyuubi, he wasn't the monster. But most people didn't see it that way, to them there was no such thing as a container; he was the Kyuubi incarnate and there was nothing else to it. _

_Naruto gritted his teeth, balling his fist until his knuckles turned white. For a moment he was devoid of any sound and laid there, simply, he didn't move at all. _

_"Aww did I-" _

Crash!

_"What the fuck- ahh...ugh..." _

_Naruto perked up, his head swiveling in every direction, desperately trying to figure out what happened. He knew one thing, someone had just crashed through his window, and seeing as how he did not feel the Anbu's hand on his head anymore, that person had taken the Anbu out as well. That was good, somebody strong had come to help him. _

_"Hey... hey, get this thing off my head! Hello...? Hell-" As the bag was removed the musty smell receded and the first taste of fresh air that hit his tongue was refreshing. A kunai slid in between his palms and sliced the rope binding him. _

_Then Naruto heard something, a sound so familiar that it brought a smile to his face. _

_A frog's croak._

_The now jovial boy's head whipped around, an ear to ear smile covering his visage. He knew it, he could tell who it was just by the croak. _

_The light from the sun played against the long, lunar white hair of his mentor, making it coruscate with such intensity that Naruto actually wanted to shield his eyes. To his left, unconscious on the floor was the previously monkey masked Anbu. Previously because during his brisk take down Jiraiya had de-masked the poor unfortunate Anbu. Rather, Jiraiya's summon had taken off the man's mask._

_For a moment, Naruto observed his assailants features, black hair, no facial hair, muscular jaw. He scoffed, for such shady people, if you went underneath the mask, Anbu were pretty nondescript. His blue eyes, which gleamed with fear and curiosity, shifted up toward the large green toad mottled with brown spots, watching carefully as it played happily, cradling the Anbu's plain monkey mask with its elongated, slimy, toad tongue that glistened with saliva._

_Naruto took a moment, and back to his sensei. "E-ero-sennin, what's going on?" _

_Jiraiya forced out a smiled, visibly he twitched from Naruto's nickname for him. He got serious once more. "No time Naruto-kun, we're going on a little trip, don't ask any questions right now just pack some clothes." _

_Hesitantly Naruto nodded, he really wanted to know just what the hell was happening but after the pother that had just occurred, he was reluctant to even utter a single word. _

_So he merely nodded, a quick bob of his head and said: "H-hai...Jiraiya sensei." _

_"About time you stopped with the nickname." Jiraiya mused._

_"Oh my bad, Ero-sennin." _

_Jiraiya grimaced, eliciting a smile from Naruto."Ok, Naruto, say goodbye to Konoha... for good."  
><em>

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Naruto woke up with a jolt, his face was glazed over with a cold sweat. A cool breeze swept over him, chilling his face; his skin tightened after he gave himself a few well deserved slaps. He should not have been dreaming, not about the past at least.

That happened about three years ago, the one life changing decision that had changed his life forever.

The moon cast a milky white glow onto the forest floor, sending singly a cylindrical shaft of bright light shining onto his face. Underneath him, the trees buzzed with the sounds of myriad insects bombinating as they always did. Fireflies gamboled playfully, looking like living cinders from a bonfire. Every few seconds one would fly overhead, lighting up just as it buzzed by his field of vision.

He wasn't in Konoha anymore, the reason, he knew not. But what he did know was that if he did stay in the village he would have been used as someone's weapon, the village council perhaps? Jiraiya wouldn't tell him. Although only people as cold and manipulative as those withered old war hawks would have been able to find a good enough reason to override the Hokage's will.

In his opinion he wasn't a missing nin, missing wasn't the right word for it, missing nin were renegades. And he was not. Rather he labeled himself as a fugitive nin, he was definitely on the run... from more than one thing. There was Konoha of course... but then there was also Akatsuki, they were a _big_ pain in the rear.

What was Naruto doing now? Well... that was a good question... a very good question. But you shouldn't be asking him, he was the wrong person. _He_ didn't even know what he was doing, he considered himself an empty being guided only by an unnatural force.

He peered out of his perch in a tree, and smiled. About a mile away, something shot up into the sky, whistling loudly as it did. As the coarse whistling came to its end and the object reached its apex, the sky literally exploded with a mass of red and blue. Two more objects shot up, popping in the sky with the same amount of light and color as the last, the only difference was that these ones gave off yellows and greens.

Naruto's smiled grew wider, the fireworks had begun. Now was his chance.

He dropped to the floor silently... his feet making little to no sound at all against the leaves. He could see the village across the large clearing, that was the only way to enter, by crossing _that_ rocky clearing and this was his best time to do it. Pouring slight chakra into his legs he glided across the slightly sodden grass and damp gravel, heading for the main gate of his target's village.

Truthfully, Kumogakure no Sato was ruled by an idiot. During a festival, who completely let their guard down; intel said that during this day, Kumo's nin had been excused from duty in order to enjoy the "good times" this festival had to offer. The festival of the Ascending Cloud, a day handpicked in order to celebrate the growth of Kumo's economy, it was a stupid thing to celebrate. But Naruto was no idiot, it may be stupid in his opinion, it was also a great way to attract... predators like him. The nin had off, however, that doesn't mean that if they spotted an intruder they wouldn't act.

He had to think about it, this festival made things harder, now he would have to pick out and identify shinobi from civilians... if necessary. What a drag.

He smiled, the memory of his old comrade and buddy Nara Shikamaru came flooding back to him. Okay... maybe he missed his old life... just a little bit.

The gate came rushing beneath him as he sailed over it... effortlessly, landing on the side of a stray building without a sound. Beside him a window was open, the sound of a crying baby erupting outward. He took a little peek, just enough to see the attractive blonde women slipping her nipple into her wailing baby's mouth. Moving his head away he moved up to the roof where he lay on his back. For a moment he watched the lights, as they illuminated the sky in explosions of color; despite the heavy cloud cover it was beautiful.

He sighed and sat up.

He knew of his target, he could say _targets_ but one person was good enough for now. Actually one person was all that he could handle... the first person was on par, if not slightly weaker than he, but the second...

He was on an entirely different scale in terms of raw harnessed power. The surprising thing was... he actually knew how to harness it. It was true, Kumo had not one but _two_ inhumanely proficient Jinchuuriki. It was a shame that he would only be approaching one.

He smiled.

"Nii Yugito... where are you?" She was his target. He produced a scroll from his pack... unfurling it with celerity and quickly absorbed its contents. "Nii Yugito: Fifteen years old, hair color:..." he looked up at his own hair, "blond. Birthday: July 24... great," he said "... she's older than me by a couple months, can't let that go to her head. Blood type: A and currently the two-tailed Jinchuuriki." Naruto paused... hm that was a seven tail difference between them. This shouldn't have been too hard... right?

Enough of that, he'd have to formulate a plan, he needed a way to find her but for now... he'd enjoy the fireworks, only for a bit though.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Nii Yugito's eyes snapped open, peering through the darkness that only she could see in. That was strange, she felt something... something odd about... the village? She didn't know but there was something that was beginning put her off edge. A certain distinct feeling that she knew all to well, the feeling of kinship. She knew that was it, it had to have been it, it was the same feeling that she always felt whenever she was near Killer Bee, despite his horribly off-tune mannerisms. It was something that just came with being what she was, a container, it was only natural that she would feel detached from the rest of society whenever her kind was around.

But... Killer Bee wasn't in the village. If she remembered he went...on tour? He called it that at least.

Yugito sat up, "What the fuck is going on?" She said. The moonlight dug through the open window, shining a square shaped pillar of light onto her floor.

"Nii-sama, are you alright?" A voice came from outside the door. She sighed, her personal guard... the only nin who wasn't off duty today. And the only nin who wouldn't leave her alone.

"Yes," she responded flatly, stretching her arms in a wide arch. "Um... Yusu... uh Yumi-..what was your name again?"

"Y-Yusuke...ma'am", his voice sound muffled through the door, it was shaky as well... fear perhaps?

"Why aren't you enjoying the festival today?"

"B-because it is m-my job to protect you...always."

"Hm... I see," She responded, elegantly standing and striding over to the door, devoid of any sound. She opened the door, revealing a average height Chunin; black hair, brown eyes... normal guy. Easily manipulated. "And what if I said I don't need protection... what then, hm?"

He made a slight movement back, "I-I would s-still protect you." Yugito smiled, her pearly whites displaying a pair of slightly sharpened canines-a useful advantage that came with her "disability"- and moved her face in closer. "Would you risk your life for a monster child like me?"

He nodded twice. Yusuke's fear, she could feel it, his apprehensiveness, prominent. That fact that he was scared was as noticeable as a kunai blade protruding from a dead man's head. The small bit of perspiration on his upper lip was an indicator, his velleity... she simply ate it up, lapping it like a cat would milk. Fear was delicious in her opinion, it was the ultimate sustenance, that should have kept _every_ Jinchuuriki going. Maybe she was wrong, maybe fear was bad... maybe she was just a twisted fifteen year old girl, because from what she'd heard, every other person like her hated the way their village treated her. Whereas... she loved it.

But she had to give it to him, his sense of duty was astounding, either that or his love of money. The shinobi scuttlebutt was that if you guarded the demon you got triple the pay. Smart man, this was a day of celebration... she couldn't kill him today.

"I-I will guard you with my life!" He blurted, his straightened fingers moving to his forehead in a salute. Yugito simply giggled, rather girlishly, rare for her.

"You're silly you know that? Saluting to a teenage girl like me, but thanks I appreciate it... sort of. But I really do wish you would go out an enjoy yourself." She said before she slipped back into her room. The door clicked closed.

Yusuke released his breath, sliding with his back against the hallway wall to the floor. He looked up, staring at the buzzing incandescent light, his breath was strained. "M-man she scares me." He muttered softly, almost inaudibly.

"What was that?" Yugito's voice came from the inside of her room.

"Uh...NOTHING, NOTHING AT ALL!"

"Oh.. Okay."

Inside, Yugito had rested herself against the windowsill. The milky moonlight reflecting of the silk of her night gown. She didn't know why she was feeling this but the simple thought of an answer was beginning to worry her, minutely. There was a possibility, a small... no microscopic possibility that what she was thinking was correct. But maybe, just maybe...

...there may have been _another_ Jinchuuriki in the village.

Yugito closed one eye, gazing at the moon and raised her index finger and thumb, pinching the air, as if to grab the moon from her window and crush in between her finger's grasp. Like a grape.

But then a beetle flew into her room, promptly drawing her attention away from the moons partially refulgent glow.

The beetle was fast, and fun._ Chase-able_ was the phrase. "Come back here, nya." She said as she pawed and swiped at it.

That's when she stopped. "Wow, I really am becoming a cat..."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto had chosen to slip off the roof where he'd been resting halfway through the fireworks and dropped down into an alleyway. He landed next to the dumpster, quickly recoiling from the foul smell. Rotting, biodegradable crap was not his top choice of smells.

He made a ram seal, but his hands stopped mid-way. He'd almost forgotten during the blindingly spectacular fireworks display. He couldn't use his chakra here. Not because he would be sense by enemy nin, no, that was no problem. Despite the festival, nin still used there chakra though only sparingly. The problem was that he'd be detected by his target. If anyone else felt him, so be it, but with Yugito it was different. A Jinchuuriki recognized another Jinchuuriki's presence almost immediately; even more-so their chakra. He'd already used some of his chakra jumping the main gate in here, she should have felt some of that, by now she _should_ have been suspicious of him. Using anymore chakra may have caused her to move, or even worse...come looking for him.

No henge for him then. So he flipped his hood up, the black cloak obscured his black and orange attire. This wasn't his normal jumpsuit, no he ditched jumpsuits a long time ago. Jiraiya had sort of gotten him into wearing "professional" attire. Strapped to his body was a tightly fitted, black and orange Anbu vest, resting atop black pants; draping over that was a black robe-like jacket that hung loosely down to his waist. All of this, was covered up by his cloak. But of course his cloak made him look even more _conspicuous._

Slipping out his scroll again he panned down toward the bottom of the longueur. Hidden intel from a reliable informant within Kumo said that Yugito always stayed in her room during this festival, and her complex was..., he grimaced, in the exact same district that the Raikage and Killer Bee lived. "Just great." Naruto deadpanned.

The alley was wet, strewn with puddles of brown water and...he'd rather not think of it but, trails of urine. But the streets were much more tolerable, actually compared to the alley he'd just stepped out of, the streets were about as clean as a bar of soap. He looked left, then right; the lights were almost blinding. The streets were busy, bursting forth with the sound of prepubescent children running after one another. He smiled... the memories came flooding back again, the festivals back in Konoha were exactly like this one. Happy, well-lit... good times, good times, but such a _bad_ village it was.

Of course he never went out during Konoha's festivals, he wasn't allowed, but it was still fun to watch from his window. His reverie left him standing in the middle of a river of people walking to and fro about the festival grounds. He, being the _only_ person not moving, stuck out like a sore thumb.

"Oi...you!" Naruto blinked twice at the happy grin a stand owner aimed his way. The man was waving frantically, indicating that he should come over. Naruto went with it, making his way through the "river" of men, women, and children. "Hey... you look like you're from out of town." Underneath the mask of impassiveness and slight confusion, Naruto grimaced. This might have been harder than he thought, the people here were far more observant than he first perceived them to be.

Hesitantly he answered back, "Y-Yes... I am."

"Come to visit a friend?"

Naruto took his chance, he needed to find some more info on his target, like where exactly in the Raikage's district could he find her. "A-actually, I'm visiting a family member actually, my cousin, you may know her." Lies, lies, all lies.

The middle-aged, bald, game-stand owner raised one scruffy gray eyebrow. "Ho, do I?"

"Her name's Nii Yugito... she's got blond hair," he put his hood down, revealing his own golden locks, "Sort of like me." He could sense the man's spike in fear, the way his eyes bulged almost involuntarily from their sockets at the mere mention of the two-tail's name. He knew of her, hell yeah he did. But just to confirm, "So do you know her? I haven't seen her since we were little, but she's written to me. She told me that a lot of people know her, so I figured I'd just ask around."

That was one thing about himself that Naruto simply loved; his innocent act, he just didn't look suspicious at all. His "baby face" just wouldn't allow it; and in the ninja world being able to put up a plausible facade was one of the deadliest weapons one could have in their arsenal. Deception was a very manipulative tool after all, so manipulative that it was downright criminal.

But then the man did something that he did not expect, he smiled. It was suspicious, not in the least bit disarming. "I... might know her, but... I just can't seem to remember," he said dryly as his rubbed his fingers together, "Hows about you give me something to jog my memory...huh?"

Naruto frowned; correction, when he said that the people in Kumo were observant he was wrong, this man wasn't observant, he was simply looking out for himself. How foolish of him to mistaken greed for keen perception. "But... I don't really have anything-" he responded.

"Oh well," the man said shrugging, "Then I guess that I won't be able to remember anything." His gaze leaned off to the side, detached due to a lack of interest in Naruto.

"W-wait... wait! H-hold on, I might have something!"

"Ah, that's what I like to hear!" The man said jovially, he reached for a mug of what looked like beer and brought it to his maw, quaffing the entire thing in one go. He belched, disgustingly. "So... what do you got for lil' ol' me?"

"Here," Naruto said pulling out a tangled, unruly mass of yen bills. "Two-thousand yen... it's all I've got."

Unceremoniously, and with even so much as a thank you the man swiped the money from Naruto's hand. Naruto said nothing, he just kept his innocent boy act up. Off course, it wasn't his money, no way. This was some money he'd gotten from pickpocketing someone's wallet while he was making his way over to the stand. What better place to steal money than in a crowd?

The stand owner looked at him seriously for a few seconds, as if trying to recall something. He then snapped, "Yes... I remember, Nii Yugito... ah yes, that girl. Quite the famous one." His hand swayed to Naruto's right and he pointed at a large tower, "Over by the Raikage's tower, she's there. Your cousin's an odd one you know, there is something that just scares me about her."

Naruto simply bowed, "Arigato,... heh I've been getting that a lot. Ever since I got here everyone I've asked has said something similar to that, why?"

The man didn't answer back, now seeming somewhat apprehensive.

"N-never mind, I'll be on my way now." Naruto said as he walked to his next destination: Nii Yugito. The smelly old stand owner was telling the truth, Yugito was in this direction. He could feel it, with every step a certain feeling that arose in his stomach got stronger, pulling tighter. The feeling he got whenever around another of his kind, the same feeling he felt when he saw Gaara for the first time. That overwhelming, undeniably wonderful feeling of being connected to another in the most arcane and misunderstood way EVER, only his kind got that feeling... because it _definitely_ went past kinship, no it was more like... resonance.

A smile crept along Naruto's face. there was no denying it; he was getting closer.

As he watched Naruto flip his hood back on, the man narrowed his eyes. "What a strange kid..."

XXXXXXXXXX

Ok, now she was knew that something was amiss. Was Killer Bee back in the village or something? He had to have been, because this sensation she was feeling... it was just too powerful. When Killer Bee was around it made her feel happy, but this new sensation wasn't anything like what she was used to feeling.

She felt... hot.

Which was why she was on the ground, breathing harshly, clawing at the floor with desperation that only a horny girl could give off. What the fuck? Why? Who... who was he and why did his very aura seem so seductive, why did this new presence make her want to touch herself?

He was closer now, she could sense it. Closer than he'd ever been before, possibly right outside her door. At least she thought.

"W-who the hell are you?" She spoke quietly, but just loud enough to be heard outside.

"Excuse me Nii-sama... did you say something?" Yusuke's voice said from behind her door.

_'Okay, good, Yu—whatever his name was—hadn't moved, whoever this person was he wasn't here yet.'_

"N-no," she responded shakily, pressing her face even harder against the hardwood floor, it didn't take much but this bastard had her lusting on the ground, looking as if she were in heat.

"Huh... uh, I'm afraid I can't let you pass." She heard Yusuke say suddenly. "Nii-sama, there's someone at the door here for you, he says he's a family member of yours." Yugito's eyes popped open, her lower lip, hanging limply to the side. She kept her back facing away from the door.

Yusuke poked his head through frame, "Um, Nii...oh! Gomen... sorry to interrupt... your.. uh... private time." He used one hand to shield his eyes from the sight of Yugito laying on the floor. "But... I've got someone here who says he knows you...ugh!"

Yugito sat upright, did he just grunt? She turned, gasping almost immediately, her hand moved on its own to cover her mouth. No scream came though, she wasn't like that, but it was a shocker to see the sanguine, glistening tip of a blade protruding from her guard's forehead and partially through his palm.

Someone killed him... what, no! What was going on, this couldn't have been another assassination attempt. If it were she wouldn't be so afraid. She actually wanted to scream, needed to scream, but didn't. It took all of her will power not to.

Slowly, the blade removed itself from her guard's skull, the sound of grinding skull and flesh was sickening, revolting even. Scraping, with the sound of sand against metal. Yusuke hit the ground with a deep thud, his eyes wide open, in between them the moist red, diamond shaped hole where the blade had pierced him. That's when the door opened.

Shit!

"Stay away!" The door swung open slowly, revealing the form of a boy, leaning on the door frame. He was wearing a tattered and ever so slightly bloody black cloak.

Yugito was on her feet in less than a second, standing defensively, her eyes flashed an intense blue and her pupils elongated into slits.

"Hey... two-tails." Naruto said.

"Who the fuck are you?" She snarled as her canines sharpened by themselves, becoming like hard glints of steel.

Naruto laughed, shaking his head. He pulled down his hood and stared into her eyes fearlessly.

"W-wha..." Yugito squeaked before falling to her knees. She was right! There _was_ someone—something—else like her in here! His eyes, they were crimson! "You..." she brought up one shaky finger, "You're-"

"-like you?" Naruto said from behind her. Before she could turn around he wrapped his arms around her. "So nice of you to notice."

She fell limp simply under the sound of his voice. Just what was going on, that feeling was stronger than ever, it was so... so primal! It was the most basic form of attraction that she'd ever felt. He, whoever he was, possibly wanted to kill her, but she couldn't have been more turned on! His breath sparked a wildfire of sensation through her body when he spoke, just his voice alone was enough to bring her to her knees. She was like some pining animal in heat, willing and ready to screw anything that neared her.

"W-what do you want?" she said in a voice that was barely a whisper.

"You..."

She closed one eye, squeaking like a mouse. That was it, she was the mouse, he was the cat. She was _prey.._.

Kami, she was getting hotter by the second!

"Listen, my name is Uzumaki Naruto. I am the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi No Kitsune, the nine-tails. I am in need of your assistance." He opened his maw, his canines sharpening on their own and without another word he brought his full bite down onto Yugito's neck.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Tsunade held the saucer of sake loosely, squeezing it in between her thumb and forefinger. She could smell the sweet alcohol wafting its scent into her nose, arousing her desire. She couldn't deny the desire, so she took a sip-a gulp. With a hearty sigh she set the dish down onto the desk and stared into the gray eyes of the previous leader of the village.

He sure did look like a wise one, she could tell simply by the way his eyes seem to gaze right through her. That and, for once _this _man's eyes weren't glued to her chest. He had to have been wise; he had enough willpower to not look at her enormous money makers. Surprising... but he was old so maybe he wasn't interested in things like that anymore.

Pushing her more curious thoughts away, Tsunade returned to the more pertinent matters at hand. Yeah... three years ago she'd taken this job on. Jiraiya and Sarutobi, the previous Hokage, had come to pay her a visit personally. It was a little bit too much pressure at first but, she was malleable and she adapted almost instantaneously. By instantaneously, she meant the instant she had gotten a hidden sake compartment installed into her new desk.

But anyway; problems were always simple, if not slightly more complicated. The problems and commotions presented to her were never too much for her to handle.

Until today.

Shizune stood at the far left corner of the office, clinging onto her pet pig like a mother would its child. The look on her face painted a fairly accurate picture of what she was feeling; fear, devastation, dread maybe?

She pinched the bridge of her nose and asked Sarutobi Hiruzen, the _new_ head of the village council to repeat what he said. Sighing, the man looked down and repeated.

Yes, she'd heard correctly, her ears weren't betraying her.

"L-let me get this straight, Kumogakure is _missing_ a Jinchuuriki?"

"Yes," the previous Hokage responded. He cleared his throat, turned and stared at Shizune for a minute.

"Whatever I hear, she hears." Tsunade said. Sarutobi nodded, accepting the Hokage's rule.

"I'm sure that I know the reason as to why their jinchuuriki has gone missing." He said.

Through the open window, a chilled breeze blew past her sending a shiver down her spine.

"Why?" Tsunade asked, her chest squished voluptuously against the oak of her desk as she literally leaned over; coming face to face with Sarutobi. His gaze did not waver, his eyes didn't even blink, stolid.

Sarutobi actually did not answer, but he did move. Swiftly he reached into his robe, pulling out a white square of paper. Tsunade, narrowed her eyes at the object; after a moment they widened, it was a picture.

"Most likely the same reason _he _went missing."

No words after that were spoken. Sarutobi simply flicked the picture into her hands, stood and walked away, leaving Tsunade to stare quietly at the picture in his hands.

Over Tonton's squeals, she could hear-faintly-Shizune's voice. "What is it, Tsunade-sama?"

"A photo."

The Hokage, really, had no clue. Maybe this _was_ a clue. In the picture Sarutobi was standing, dressed and elegantly wrapped in his-now her- Hokage robes. He seemed happy, a smile wide on his face, and directly in front of him was a boy. He looked happy as well, no happy wasn't the word.

This blond kid look enthusiastic; with a smile stretching ear to ear. He threw up two fingers in a victory sign and confusingly, yet clearly his mouth seemed to be forming words. What words?

Tsunade squinted, no use... she couldn't read still lips.

"Hey, Tsunade-sama, what's that on the back of the photo?" Shizune asked, pointing to the back of the square shaped memorabilia. She wasted no time flipping it over, reading the words. It said one thing...

"Believe it?" Looking back to the picture side of the photograph, she looked at the boy's lips. The words seemed to fit, it now looked as if he were screaming "BELIEVE IT!". A thousand and one questions, all of them popped up at the same time, one was the most important.

Shizune was the one to say it out loud. "Who the hell is the blond kid?"

Tsunade sighed, grabbing hold of her delectable sake once more. "My thoughts exactly Shizune."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto stood on the porch, the orange sun rested gently on the horizon. Below and surrounding, there was a village... a peaceful one at that. His village... his home. It'd been his home for the past three years, at least it was supposed to be. He hadn't been here all that long, Jiraiya had snagged him away and took him on some "journey" to train.

His sensei's words were; "_When you get back, you will live here._" So he was actually quite new here.

And Naruto had no problem with that, this place was pretty secure. It had an actual happy village-vibe, unlike the misleadingly cheerful Konoha. The best part was... nobody knew who he was.

Yet.

He took in a deep breath, his house was fairly large, already pre-decorated with decor and fancy-smancy furniture that was... honestly a bit to gaudy for Naruto's taste. He was a simple person, he was the type of guy to carry every possession he owned on his back. But things were different, he didn't just live in _his_ own world now and if he ever wanted to take what was in this world then he'd need the extra room.

In personality he was easy to figure out, but in mind Naruto was as intricate as a two-thousand piece puzzle. He'd grown smarter, at least he thought, not that much smarter, just smart enough to get by.

The village he resided in, Gunraku, a small trade-village in between the direct trade paths of Konoha and Kumo, was perfect. Perfect for observation, perfect for hiding, just perfect...

Naruto was just about to lean over the rail just when he heard a loud thump behind him, following that was the frayed sound of a person's broken breathing. "Tired?" he asked just as he turned around to see an exhausted and dirty Yugito on the floor, she clawed the ground, leaving marks with her feline nails. "Hey hey, don't scratch the wood, its mahogany," Naruto exclaimed. Yugito didn't stop clawing, at least not at the floor, she simply moved her hands up to Naruto's foot and began clawing at the soles of his sandals.

"I... guess that's better." He said, somewhat satisfied.

"I'm... here." She said between breaths. Naruto crouched, patting her on the head, rubbing semi-affectionately, she purred like a cat.

"Good, you came."

"Of course I did... I hated that village. What you told me back in Kumo, can you do it really? Can you give us jinchuuriki a chance at being in control?"

"That's what I hope to do," he said, as he stopped petting her, she clung to his arm.

"Don't stop," he continued to pet, only a little freaked out. "Last week, when you killed my body guard, you asked me to follow you... why?"

Yes, a week ago, Yugito had been his target, but who said that he wanted to kill her. No, Naruto was no assassin-although he could be one-he was instead, a _recruiter_. He extended his hand to her, and she took it, wobbly standing to her feet. Her knees buckled uncontrollably.

"Because I need your help, because you're exactly like me, because we both want to have some power in the foul world we live in."

"And where do I come in, what's my roll?"

"Simply existing as you are."

Yugito raised an eyebrow, "What?"

Naruto smiled, "You'll know soon enough. But anyway, how did you get here?"

"I ran."

"All the way from Kumo, wow... "

"Well its your fault." She rubbed the two sore diamond shaped marks on the back of her neck, wincing from the spike of pain. "By the way... what did you do to my neck?"

"Silly, I bit you, can't you tell?" She jabbed his arm.

"No I mean, what did your bite do to me?"

"It's a seal, my sensei helped me with it, I simply reconstructed it so that I could apply it by biting someone."

Yugito frowned, her frizzled strands of blond hair falling over her face, "So you bit me? And now I feel weird when I use the Nibi's chakra." Naruto grabbed her hand, bringing it close to his face, he inspected closely, not at all distracted by the huge blush on Yugito's face. What was he doing? She thought that she was weird but he was just eccentric, maybe jinchuuriki got weirder with the more tails they had. Look at Killer Bee, he had eight tails... and that guy was...an alien, she swore it. But she liked Bee nevertheless. And strangely even if she couldn't understand it, she was beginning to like this boy, the nine-tails.

Maybe it was because he had the most tails but to her, size _did_ matter, and nine was the highest number a jinchuuriki could hit.

"What are you-"

"Not correct, you actually have been using the Nibi, only minutely. It's fighting my seal."

Yugito cleared her throat, "_She's_ fighting your seal."

"My bad, she's fighting the seal. I can tell, your nails have grown out, which shouldn't have happened, you must have been really out of chakra." Yugito nodded.

"Hey, how come I don't see any seals on you."

Naruto chuckled and lifted up his shirt.

Yugito's eyes widened. _'Kami... he's hot'_. They were exotic, the seals, arcane in every way to her. She recognized at the least, one of the mysteriously ornate runes engraved onto Naruto's skin. Actually, burned was a better word; the seals on his stomach, they looked as if they had been branded into his skin, slowly. Abruptly she shook her head, "Wow... that's a lot of seals." She said as Naruto put his shirt back down.

"Eight to be exact, all of them applied by my sensei... and someone who I don't know. But listen...uh you smell, come, I'll show you to the bathroom you dirty girl."

Yugito said nothing, fighting off her blush as she followed Naruto inside.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Yugito was walking down the stairs, wrapped in two towels when she spotted the nine-tails in his kitchen reading a letter. His eyes were serious, glued to the text. She narrowed her eyes, tip-toeing down the rest of the stairs. His ears flicked as he noticed the groan the stair gave at her last step.

"Oh, you're done. And as much as I would like to spend time ogling you, you should put some clothes on," he didn't say anything after that, he simply pointed in the direction of a separate hall running to the left of the kitchen. She allowed herself to follow the direction of his finger, until she reached another room, spacious it was, that looked somewhat like a traditional Japanese living room with a modern flare. On the turn-around couch, there were her clothes, washed and pressed.

Wow, that sure was polite of him. She wasted no time slipping out of her towel, dry, and slipping into her normal attire. Normally she'd of kept her long hair in a pony tail like she always did but the nine-tailed jinchuuriki in the other room had her feeling wild. She let her damp locks flow past her shoulders.

"I see you've dressed up." Naruto said five feet behind her. She suppressed her jump, fighting down the high-pitch rush of air trying to surface as a squeak. She simply nodded, man that guy was sneaky; she only hoped that he wasn't watching her change the entire time.

"Listen, I've got good news and bad news, which would you like to hear first?" Naruto said, still glancing down at the letter in front of him.

"Give me the good news,"

"Well the good news is that, you're gonna get to see your old pal Killer Bee again, word is that he's back in Kumo and is looking for you. Now for the bad news, I've got a friend, his name's Sabaku no Gaara, he's the Kazekage. So I've decided to pay him a little visit... I'm heading to Suna, I'll be gone for a while."

"Why's that bad for me?" She asked, fiddling with a wet strand of hair.

"Because you'll miss me, and plus you're going to have to try to convince Killer Bee to come back here and join us without me. Since I'm gone, that means you're own your own." Naruto said scanning the page up and down. Jeez, conceited much? Hell yeah he was, so what if she was on her own, even without the Nibi's chakra she had power of her own. She didn't need him, although it would help to have him around to explain things because...

... She had _no_ idea what was going on. All she knew was that she was following this nine-tailed boy, simply because her instinct told her to.

"Why would I do that?"

"Because, he's like us and he's essential. And he'll probably listen to you, you two were close right?" Yugito nodded, "Good, I'm leaving for Suna right now, so leave in two or three days... and try not to get yourself re-captured. That would be embarrassing."

Yugito scoffed, "Please that's an insult... I won't get caught."

"I'm sure you won't," that commented elicited a frown and Yugito centered he gaze onto Naruto.

"I won't!"

"Just saying."

"Well don't," Yugito snapped back,"I bet that I'll do better than you!" Naruto seemed to be deep in thought, as if captured by her last words.

With that Naruto turned around and walked away, he had already packed, so he could leave right away. And that's exactly what he did.

Actually, it was more like he dashed out the door.

His energy had him bouncing, literally on the balls of his feet as he skipped across a clearing. Yes, he skipped while he ran, he was _that_ excited. But there was also one other thing that Yugito did not know, one thing about Gaara; that he was a jinchuuriki as well. Boy what a surprise that would be for her, he'd mention it when she got back.

He could feel his body flicker with chakra with each step that he took; soon these grassy plains would wither away and turn to sandy wastelands. He'd be in Wind country soon. Now there was one more question... which route to take? He could run to the left, and cut through Fire country, but to get to Suna that way he would have to past almost directly by Konoha, that would be interesting, he might actually run into some Nin. considering that, there were other options, why he could simply cut through Oto, sound, and make a curved line down into Wind country. What with Orochimaru out of commission-bless Enma's soul-traveling through sound wouldn't be _as_ dangerous as it used to be.

He smiled, both paths were dangerous... he'd play it safe though. Sound it was.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto ran at a considerable pace, his eyes searing from the irritation of sand in his eyes. Ow, that stuff was murder on the corneas. He shook it off though, his eyes widened when he spotted the large brown mountainside that served as Suna's main gate. The giant slit in the middle of it ran straight down, dark and seemingly infinite.

He'd arrived. Now... there was one question he had been asking himself the entire time. How the hell was he supposed to get inside the damn place. Suna was not Kumo, their main gate wasn't so easy to simply jump over. And he was pretty if not absolutely sure that Gaara would have a couple nin on patrol.

With each step, his foot sank deeply into the sand; causing muffled, gritty little sparks of sound with each step. How many miles had he run in this sand? He'd lost count after fifty-six. It brought a smile to his face to finally see the rocky gates of the Sand village. For a moment, he felt the pleasure of relief; quickly it was chased away however. He couldn't relax now, yes, he'd made it here. But he still needed to gain access here.

He could always sneak in, but that was a lot of effort. For one, if he got caught... well things wouldn't be pretty for him. The thing was... he was labeled as a missing nin, he didn't call himself that but everyone else seemed to love the name they gave him.

How to get in? How to get in? He thought long and hard about it as he ran, his feet moving seemingly on their own. He could always just walk in. Nah, what was he thinking, he was just japing. Simply walk in... as if.

Naruto's eyes widened, a definite smirk on his face, forming slowly. His lips curled dangerously into another one of his predatory smiles; a toothy smile that displayed one of his white canines. Yes, he'd just walk in.

After all he was _only _a nuke-nin.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The two guard Nin bowed deeply out of respect, low chunin they were. Young-older than he-but still green behind the ears. His dusty red hair, cold, calculating eyes, flecked with the light of the dessert sun. He looked regal, noble even. The gourd on his back, over-sized and slightly menacing tipped over as he walked. He pulled the blue Kazekage cap over his eyes, leaving his gourd behind, outside of the gates.

He was the Kazekage, honored, apparently in the village. But not really.

"K-Kazekage-sama!" Both guards said, keeping their eyes at the ground. It still seemed that Gaara had that intimidation factor that made him appear so... ghastly at times.

In a low voice, "Gaara" said, "Stand, you're doing a fine job."

The bald guard on the left seemed to twinkle, "R-really, Kazekage-sama, you really think so?" Gaara nodded once, and the man's lips curled into a smile. He stood straight up, "Right," he said in a salute, "We will continue to guard this post efficiently!"

Gaara nodded one more, "Carry on," he said and walked past, leaving his gourd at the gate post. The two guards bowed unwittingly once more and stood at attention.

After he was a couple yards away, the guard on the right looked over to his partner. "Hey, is it me or did the Kazekage look shorter than usual?" The left side guard smacked him in the side of the head.

"Stupid, he'll hear you. Why do you think he wears that gourd, not just to carry his sand, it makes him look taller. But you didn't hear from me, alright?"

Gaara smiled. Well not really Gaara, through the normal sea green-teal of the Kazekage's eyes, a spec of blue flashed vividly for a second. No, this was not the actual Kazekage, the flicker of blue in his eyes gave it all away. "Gaara" continued walking down the road, his Kazekage robes fluttering with elegance.

Around him, the villagers looked on with awe-filled eyes, veneration, and outright envy. The people of sand had changed, Gaara was no longer the monster that everyone feared to even looked at. Actually, the hoi polloi's perspective seemed to take an interesting twist on Gaara, no longer was he the demon, rather he was the protector, the guardian, the Kazekage. It made this Gaara, who in reality wasn't Gaara at all, smirk, his old friend had actually taken his words to heart. He'd really made something of himself, but that was too bad. For his plans, he wouldn't need this new Gaara; he would need the old Gaara, the murderous little demon.

In the guise of Gaara, Naruto chuckled but quickly stopped. He forgot, Gaara _didn't_ chuckle, last time he checked. He continued walking, pretending that nobody noticed his little slip up. But apparently he was wrong, for a hand, a firm but small hand clamped down on his shoulder.

"Gaara!" Temari yelled, turning Naruto around swiftly by the shoulder. "What are you doing here, you've got a meeting that you _should_ have been at TEN minutes ago." Underneath his disguise, Naruto grimaced. Damn, this was probably the worst time for her to show up! He remembered her, Temari, the raffish older sister of Gaara, while he'd never had a chance to connect with her like he had with Gaara, he knew enough about her to tell that she hadn't changed. She was still as pretty as he used to think she was when he was smaller, and she still acted just as overly assertive. But this was different, this was supposed to be Gaara she was talking to. Wasn't she still scared of him? Jeez Gaara, he'd changed way too much, apparently the new Gaara was a big softy if Temari could speak to him this way now.

Still, he was at a loss for words, so he just stared at her.

She blinked. "You feeling okay?" She asked, placing her hand on her little brother's face. Naruto tried to back up, but it was too late, she'd already felt it. Her hand jerked back and she gasped, seconds later her face twisted into a frown. "W-what was that?" She asked, a bit louder than her normal voice.

Naruto gritted his teeth, as did his Gaara disguise. 'Shit,' he thought, 'she felt them!' Being a Jinchuuriki was cool sometimes but at other times it was a hindrance, like now when Temari just felt his whisker marks.

"Gaara... what... was that?" She asked, her eyes widening. Still Naruto didn't answer. Quickly he placed his palm over his left eye, drawing back on the memory of some of Gaara's old memories and dropped to his knee.

"Temari... I'm afraid that I am not feeling well today," his voice was shaky, shaky enough to be plausible. Temari quickly rushed to his side, helping him up, the villagers all gasped and murmured but he payed no attention to them, he simply kept his act up.

"Gaara, do you think it's?" She meant Shuukaku, Naruto simply played along.

"Yes," he muttered in a tempered voice. "T-temari... help me get to my office... I need to be alone." Jeez, he should have been an actor, because his acting was positively flawless. But apparently flawless acting could not hope to overcome outright inconvenience, because for some reason it seemed to be flooding towards him in an abundance the instant he stepped into Suna. Out of the corner of his eye Naruto caught a glimpse of someone walking towards them with a confused, if not slightly panicked expression laid on his purple painted face.

Naruto grimaced, damn, as if _one_ of Gaara's siblings finding him wasn't bad enough. Now he had to make up something to get the make-up wearing freak off of his back. What was his name again? Ah yes...

"Kankuro," Naruto said pointing to what was supposed to be his and Temari's brother. Temari whipped around, wasting no time gesturing for Kankuro to hurry and approach them. Once he was over there, he knelt down, scratching his head through the semi-veil covering his head.

"Gaara what the hell? How did he get here?" He asked, the confusion was obvious. Temari answered in a panicked voice.

"I don't know but he says he isn't feeling well, it could possibly be," she lowered her voice down to a whisper, "Shuukaku." But after a moment she said something again, "That's not Gaara, too short," she whispered.

Kankuro's eyes widened, his mouth agape, but then his face shrank into a tight scowl. He apparently did not wish to figure out who the impostor was. He, unlike his sister, chose to expose first and investigate later. "But that's impossible," he said, "I _just_ saw you, you were walking into the meeting hall, I spoke to you even. And you seemed fine." Both Kankuro and Temari looked at "Gaara", then Temari raised her brow. She cupped her chin.

"Is it me... or does he look, different?" She asked, her lips held the features of a smirk. It was obvious to Naruto, they were playing along-at least Temari was. Kankuro nodded in her observation, his purple lined eyes narrowing themselves.

"Yeah," he said monotonously, "he looks... smaller."

Naruto cringed yet again on the inside, curse his imperfect knowledge. He hadn't seen Gaara in three years, how stupid of him to try and imitate his visage. Of course he would look different! This was the Gaara from three years ago, his was smaller, younger, and _not_ the Kazekage. Externally, Naruto sighed and as Temari's eyes widened, a smile crept along his face.

It appears that they had noticed. He wouldn't have expected anything less from Gaara's brother and sister, except he just didn't think he'd run into them so early. "Kankuro, back up... this isn't Gaara..."Temari said, gripping her over sized battle fan.

"It appears that you've notice, well the jig is up!" Naruto said in his regular voice.

Kankuro gasped, "That voice! No way!"

"Yes way... and I'm afraid I can play right now!" Naruto said as he twisted, catching Temari in the side with a hard backhand, thrusting her away about five meters. His henge dispelled as he rose to both feet, but underneath it his hood was still up so his face was still shrouded in shadow. Small tufts of his blond hair could be seen however, it was these tufts of hair that kept Kankuro locked in place.

The villagers were catching on now, they began to move away... slowly though, for their curiosity kept them from running.

"No, they said you died. You shouldn't be..."

"-alive?" Naruto finished for him, "But I am. What did they tell you before that, that I was a criminal, that I had gone nuke?" He cocked his head to the side, his eyes still covered by his hood but his lips sucked in together in a childish pout. "Hm?"

"No," Kankuro said, crouching low, his left hand went behind his back, grabbing hold of one three scrolls on his back. "Konoha didn't tell us anything about you, except that you were _extremely_ dangerous and that if we ever saw you... we should..."

Naruto felt a flicker of chakra behind him, then a burst of it. It was strong, but acute... almost like a blade. Temari's voice screamed behind him. " I'm gonna kill you!" She gave a heave, swinging her gigantic fan launching a powerful but _very _condensed wall of wind at him. His ears could pick up the whistle of gusts mere seconds away.

Gracefully, Naruto jumped high into the air, outstretching his hands like a bird would its wings and leaned back until he was almost upside down. He felt the harsh wind brush past his head as gently as a breeze would have and centered his icy gaze on Temari who was in the act of swinging her arms overhead for another attack.

He took his inverted moment to assess the situation. It didn't look good, two on one, he was sure that he could take each of them out alone... but... at the same time? They would give him some work. But his thoughts were interrupted when the woody sound of something clicking sounded behind him.

Kankuro was a puppet master, he'd almost forgotten. Blindly he spiraled his body and struck in the direction of the clicking sound as it got closer. His foot arched outward, and although he didn't expect to, he caught the clicking head of Crow right in the face. His foot stuck like glue, embedding itself into the wood. Crow's three eyes swiveled around wildly, before centering on him and with another click, it open its mouth and aimed at Naruto's chest.

"Shit," Naruto said aloud before using his other foot to stomp Crow's mouth close; he barely caught a glimpse of the dark poison bomb attempting to exit the puppet's mouth before it exploded in a cloud of dark purple gas. Naruto held his breath as he fell through the cloud, the poison stung his eyes, so he closed one of them until he breached the end of the poison cloud and touched fresh air. Frantically he gulped in the refreshing taste of clean oxygen and the instant he had exited from the cloud, the ground seemed to fast forward itself closer to him. He was plummeting, plummeting fast. With the imminent ground at his back, Naruto spun back and flipped down, landing on his feet in a low crouch.

But it wasn't over, he could still sense them _both_ coming after them. Kankuro who was in front of him, pulled his arms up for a moment and whipped them down, the blue chakra enhanced strings undulated like a snake when he did so. And out of the purple cloud, Crow came bursting through violet cloud of poison, his eyes boggling wildly and out of his mouth a large foot-long blade protruded from his mouth.

But the puppet master had more; Kankuro pulled out a second scroll, tossing it high in the air and in a loud expulsion of smoke a second puppet, a larger, stockier one with read horns and a wider body and face then Karasu charged at him. It clicked the same way Crow did. But unlike Karasu, it didn't attack with blades... instead it opened its arms as if to hug Naruto. Suddenly, underneath its tattered cloak, its stomach opened up to reveal hollow insides. What, was it trying to... capture him?

Temari finally finished the arch of her wild swing and cried out: "Kamaitachi!" And out of the tip of her fan, she released a torrent of wind, a whirlwind that buzzed with a mass of acute chakra, cutting chakra. Naruto gritted his teeth, his eyes looking all around him for any hope of escape. He remembered that jutsu, Temari's, it was the same one she used to dispatch of Tenten during the chunin exams.

Quickly he palmed a dozen shuriken, and tossed them with expert precision; six went up to Crow and six went to Kuroari, Kankuro's other puppet. Kankuro laughed, his voice barely audible over the wind rushing behind him. "What the hell, you missed _all_ of them, you've gotten rusty, that much is true!" But Kankuro's smile was wiped from his face, Naruto wasn't through. The shuriken had all whizzed past his puppets, or was there more? Supposedly, they had missed their mark perhaps on purposely. But this didn't matter to Kankuro... Temari's aerial blades would tear him to shreds before he could even think of a plan.

... It was such a shame to see Naruto go this way.

"Hey puppet master, let's switch jobs for today!" Naruto said when he pulled both hands back and tugged with his fingers on the dozen strings of wire attached to the shuriken he'd just thrown, they gleamed brightly in the light, guiding the whirling blades backwards and around both of Kankuro's puppets, wrapping them in wire. Naruto pulled down and back, dragging both puppets toward his body. Naruto planned to eliminate the closest one so without warning and before Kankuro could react, he pulled down on his of the twine and smashed Crow into the ground. The doll's head exploded in a fine mess of wood and metal.

Naruto then ran forward, attempting to outrun Temari's wind, he headed straight for Kuroari. Kankuro tugged fiercely in protest, however so did Naruto with his own wire. That left the puppet caught in between both forces and suspended in the air. Quickly before the wind sliced him to bits, Naruto launched himself, diving head first into the still open belly of Kankuro's doll and closed it from the inside.

What came next was probably one of the worst rides of his life. Inside the doll, the wind thrashed Naruto back and forth, tossing him around like he was a ball. He could hear the sound of the blades of wind cutting through the dolls wooden interior, it was okay though, he hadn't been harmed. But then the wind picked up speed, shredding the dolls exterior almost completely, revealing him partially. Wood and metal twisted, scratching, churning, and tearing through with nauseating like that... it ended. The whirlwind of air cut itself off just as quickly as it had turned itself on, dropping Naruto encased in his doll aegis to the ground.

Kankuro was at a loss for words, he simply stood, mouth agape, as did Temari. The blond girl waved over at her brother, silently mouthing, "Sorry about your dolls". But that didn't help, Kankuro felt like he wanted to cry... and so he did.

"M-My...My DOLLS!" He said as he dropped to both his knees.

"Oh quit whining!" She looked over at the heap of torn wood and metal, her expression displayed a emotion that could only be described as hurt. "You think we really... you know, killed him?" She asked hesitantly. A weird feeling stirred in her stomach, permeating her mouth with the taste of bile. She never thought that she'd be the one to kill Uzumaki Naruto of all people, especially after the way he took out Gaara.

The ground beneath her rumbled, the sand shifted uncontrollably and before she could move Naruto erupted out of the sand behind her and grabbed her from behind. He clutched her hand, pulling it behind her back, twisting it painfully. She squeaked from the pain. "Not a chance, now drop the fan." He said, putting his wrist close to her face and with a grind of metal on metal a retractable blade jutted forth from underneath his sleeve. He move the gleaming blade close to her neck, "Drop it." He said with venom.

She complied quickly, dropping the fan to the sand with a dull thud. Naruto glanced at Kankuro, "And you, puppet boy, no funny business... or your sister dies. I don't want to do it, but I will if I must." He brought his lips closer to Temari's ear, lowering his voice down to a whisper. "I'm sorry. but I really don't want to kill you, you used to be a comrade. So I'd rather not, I'm simply here to speak with your brother, will you lead me to him?"

Temari breathed deeply, something about the boy had changed, his voice sparked fire inside of her, it made her legs wobbly. He seemed a lot more.. persuasive in a way, disarming even. Was he _really_ was the same idiot blond from before.

"W-why?" She asked.

Naruto didn't answer, he simply pressed the blade closer to her neck, drawing blood. The warmth was gone, it left in an instant and he was back to the cold fighter he was moments ago. "Answer my question!" He hissed vehemently. He glanced at Kankuro once, only once, to make sure that he got the message. That he was _not_ to move. At all, or else, Temari's head would be sliced off in milliseconds flat.

The wind blew dusty sand in their eyes, forcing Temari to close her eyes. What could she say, those blades were dangerous, and pointy, and drawing more blood by the second. She had to give in and agree, but... but she couldn't do that, not this easily. The blade pressed harder into her neck and she sucked air sharply in between her clenched teeth.

Okay, that one hurt and Naruto didn't look like he wanted to _really _negotiate or even show a little mercy for that matter. Jeez, the evil little bastard. He sure had grown to be a little demon. She opened her mouth to finally agree to submit but froze when someone cut her off.

His voice was all too familiar, raspy, matured, and still carrying that lazy-slacked tongue.

"Kage Mane no Jutsu!"

Naruto's body stiffened almost instantly and he grunted as if his muscles were in pain. "No... not him, of all people, why?" She heard Naruto say as he moved the acute blade from her neck. Slowly, against his will, his hand shook violently as he tried to fight the urge to place it back. "Fuck... he just had to...ahh, I guess I'm caught then!" The boy's vice-grip softened off her hand until it was no more, the relief flooded her insides. She was free, she could move.

Temari turned slowly around to see Naruto raffishly getting down on his knees, and placing his hands behind his back, his expression was fierce. Behind him she followed a long black mass, a shadow that stretched about ten yards behind until it finally connected to the one responsible for Naruto's surrender.

"Fuck you Shikamaru." Naruto said calmly, addressing the vested, grim-faced, pineapple-headed Jonin kneeling in the same manner that Naruto was. For a moment, Temari simply stared at the boy, Nara Shikamaru, his bored yet troubled expression was truly infectious because she felt herself frowning as well. Why was she even so mad, because Naruto had so easily disabled her? Because he actually had the balls to pose as Gaara? There were an interminable number of things that could have gotten her so riled up at the moment, all of them created by Naruto... one of them created by Shikamaru.

He'd taken Naruto down without the boy even noticing. She failed to do so. Stupid Shikamaru, always making dramatic entrances.

Then Naruto spoke out, "Hey Temari... I see you've grown," He said jovially, "Nice tits." Temari gasped, her hands moving automatically to her chest to keep his unwanted eyes from ogling her. Her blush was fiery. Apparently Naruto hadn't change everything about him, he still spoke his mind.

"Y-you perv!" She screamed and as if by response, Naruto's eyes were instantly diverted to looking at the ground, his neck snapping down. She glanced up to see Shikamaru with his nose pointed to the ground as well.

"Well hurry up and tie him up, I can't hold this up forever, jeez! Women..."

"Tell me about it," Naruto muttered.

"Shut up," Both Shikamaru and Temari said in unison.

XXXXXXXXX

Naruto smiled as he was thrown into the hard stone wall of his prison cell; he grunted out a chuckle and his hood flipped back down, revealing his face. Showing off his grin, his vulpine smile, that he'd been so infamous for back in Konoha. But back then it was so innocent, so pure and unwitting... now Naruto's grin just seemed predatory. What had happened to him? He'd changed, extremely.

Naruto let out another chuckle as he was grabbed by his collar, his head flying limply back as his body thrust forth and Shikamaru cracked another punch into the rigid bone of his cheek. The skin had turned purple, swollen and fervid from the newest of Shikamaru's punches to the face. But he was smiling, and it was beginning to piss the genius off.

"Naruto, stop fucking around! Tell me why you're here!"

Naruto smiled once more, a filed canine gleaming in the musty light of the dank cell, he blew his breath out. "Where's Gaara?"

Shikamaru narrowed his eyes, waiting for a moment until he finally gave in and closed them, slumping his head down in defeat. Naruto's smile loosened into a wider one when he felt Shikamaru's hand just leave his collar and drop to his side. After a moment he opened his eyes, staring seriously into Naruto's sky blue orbs. Orbs that held within them an enigmatic emotion that not even Shikamaru could decipher.

"If you won't tell me why you're here, at least talk to me."

Naruto leaned his head to the side, his face lighting up with false cheer. "Oh, really? But why would want to speak with a nuke-nin like me?" Naruto asked; and his answer came quickly, in the form of a hand, Shikamaru's hand, that gripped his shoulder sternly. It was stern yet somehow soft, as if he were actually trying to convey genuine concern.

"Because you're my friend." Shikamaru wavered for a moment, quickly glancing down to his hand on the blond's shoulder before awkwardly removing it. "At least... you used to be."

Naruto scoffed, "Hm, touching Shikamaru,e specially coming from you, one of the nin from our generation." The sarcasm was obvious with his tone. There was a pause where they both said nothing; they simply stared at each other. Each second lit the Nara's insides on fire. Naruto's smug visage, his frisky smile; he acted like he was in control of the situation. As if! Look at him, he was pathetic, hands tied up behind his back, face beaten to a purple swell; his eye was even swelling shut! What could he possibly be smiling at? The fact that he was simply cracking a grin was enough to get Shikamaru mad, but what was even more irritating was that _he_ didn't know why Naruto was smiling.

Naruto's voice interrupted his thoughts harshly. "So... what did you need to talk about, old pal?" Naruto said with more sarcasm. Shikamaru didn't respond, swallowing his large lump of pride and continued on to ask his question.

"Based on how you answer this question, I might not tell Konoha of this when I return."

Naruto raised his brow in interest. "Ask away."

"I," Shikamaru searched for the words, "I.. don't even know... where to start." He said, humoring his erstwhile comrade with a dry chuckle, but there was no smile on his face. Just that cast iron glare of his. The truth was right here in front of him, yet the small voice in the back of his head kept clinging to the spurious reality of Naruto's non-existence. He shouldn't have been here, he shouldn't have been alive, at least the Hokage told him so. But then again, he was only a Jonin, his ears may not have been that important; perhaps the Hokage felt the same way and opted to hide the shameful truth from those like him.

"What," Shikamaru paused, "-made you leave the village?"

Naruto didn't say anything at first, instead his eyes closed themselves and he inhaled sharply. His back arched when the frisson came."That Shikamaru... is something you should ask the Hokage and hi-" The grating of metal against solid concrete cut Naruto off and he turned to look at the person in the doorway. The jinchuuriki's eyes widened with glee.

"Gaara!" He chimed loudly.

The sandy-red haired boy didn't move from the metal from of the doorway; the light filtering from the window in the hallways outside was intensely bright so Naruto couldn't quite see the boy's face, just his silhouette. But he could tell that Gaara's eyes were wider than sake saucers now.

The words left the Kazekage's lips shakily, "U-Uzumaki... Naruto."

Naruto smirked, "The one and only."

Shikamaru stood, turning his back to Naruto and bowed to Gaara, "Gaara, please if you could; give me a few more minutes with Naruto alo-"

Gaara wasn't interested in that, he didn't turn his head to look at Shikamaru and although he couldn't quite see the Kazekage's eyes, Naruto was sure that they were glaring at Shikamaru. The thought brought a smile to Naruto's face. "Leave us," Gaara commanded calmly.

He heard the loud exasperation of air Shikamaru released and registered it as an incredulous gasp. "But... G-gaara, I."

"Leave... now." The boy's tone had turned icy now, he was serious. Naruto simply grinned when Shikamaru simple grunted and gave Gaara another bow, before walking out of the door frame, he made a left down the hall. After a few moments his steps couldn't be heard anymore, he was gone.

Naruto then turned his full attention to Gaara, he'd gotten taller his shoulders no longer slumped like that used to. When Gaara stepped in the shade of the cell room and closed the door, Naruto took in the masculinity that had chiseled Gaara's features with observant eyes. His jawline had become more refined, his eyes wiser, his face looked the same except it had grown longer with his aging. A fine specimen, and a fine addition to his force. Gaara's clothing was different now as well... as dark once-armed vest, over top the burgundy jacket that draped to the floor, the material diverging in the front where his waist was in order to create an elegant slit. Naruto couldn't help but smile at how regal Gaara looked at the moment, he would have clapped but his hands were still bidden together.

"Temari informed me that you'd broken through the gates of the village, you posed as me?"

"Yes."

Gaara's eyes narrowed as he stared at Naruto. The boy who had changed him had changed himself as well, he could tell just by the way he stared at him. With the eyes of a killer, an inexperienced one, but a killer nonetheless. Just like his eyes looked like before.

"Entering covertly, that doesn't seem to be your style Naruto. If I remember, you were more of a show off."

"I guess that explains the wind damage in you main district.." Naruto responded. The was a pause, where they didn't say anything, oddly reminiscent of his time in here with Shikamaru, but that all stopped when Gaara opened his mouth and said:

"Konoha has informed me of you status as a Nuke-nin...

Naruto did not respond. The silence then became unnerving.

"Naruto, what did you do? Konoha wanted me to keep this completely esoteric, but I guess the truth has been exposed."

"I guess it has," Naruto finally said.

"Then tell me this sole truth, _why_ did you go Nuke?" Gaara's voice was raspy, far from wavering but it held within it a certain taint of pity. Pity that Naruto did not need.

Naruto simply scoffed. "Nuke, no I'm not a missing-nin, I'm a fugitive." Gaara's eyebrow pulled up, "But that's not important, what is important is the reason as to why I'm here... you see, me and you... we're the same, that's old new." Gaara's eyes widened for a bit, but settled down an instant later; it appeared that he understood the implied.

"Go on," he muttered now interested, although his stoic tone did not indicate his alacrity.

"Sabaku no Gaara... I've got a proposition for you." Naruto smiled, showing one of his canines which lengthened in response to his flickering chakra. "It's sort of a message."

Gaara then inhaled sharply, feeling something pull at his gut. It was a sharp, primal pull, no pain, no fear, just instinct in its purest form that told him that he wanted to stay and listen to Uzumaki Naruto. Gaara hadn't noticed until now but Naruto's physical appearance had altered itself; his whiskers had deepened, becoming bolder, his canines had sharpened, his hair stood on end like a wild animal's and he smiled wildly, staring at Gaara with blood red eyes.

"Naruto you-"

"Konoha... tried take everything from me, forced me to abandon my old life. They treated me like crap and like a weapon... just like this village treated you like one. But it appears that things have changed... would you like to change things even more?" Naruto asked, sliding his back up the wall in order stand himself up. His wrist wriggled behind his back and with a slight grunt he snapped the ropes binding him like he would have a twig.

Gaara was silent for a long while, the dusty air and minuscule light shined partially on his face. He contemplated it... only briefly. "What does changing things _even more_ imply?" He asked apprehensively. He wanted to believe that Naruto, the Naruto whom he'd previously admired had good intention but the vibe that he was picking up said exactly the opposite. He couldn't help but pick up the feelings of ill-will radiating from the boy.

"Our revenge..." Naruto said calmly before adding, "and our compromise with the world, all of us demons...together." Once again, Gaara understood the implied.

"If that is the case... I am afraid that I will have to say... no. If what I you are proposing goes along the lines of what I suspect then I'm sure our revenge will bring us no form of justice."

Naruto's eyes narrowed as he looked off to the side. "That's a shame... are you sure?"

It took Gaara a few seconds to respond but he finally said, "Yes, I am. I am, the Kazekage now Naruto, I protect the village, I cannot allow myself to do anything that will hurt my village's ties with its strongest ally. I am simply not that type of person anymore, I have loved ones to protect now...and I know that you would understand something about that." Gaara said.

Naruto looked disheartened, "Yes... I would. I only wish I'd never taught you what it meant to have precious people close to you because... right now, who you used to be is the Gaara that I need."

Gaara didn't say anything; he'd already came to the conclusion on Naruto's intent. It was definitely dangerous, any plan that involved his former self had to have been. Gaara turned around to walk through the doorway, entering the brightly lit hallway once more and again Naruto could only see his silhouette. Without turning around he said: "If that is the Gaara that you need then I'm sorry, I cannot help, that Gaara doesn't exist anymore... I've grown up... I see that you have as well."

Naruto simply chuckled. He'd simply grown up differently, that was all.

"Aren't you going to keep me prisoner? Or report me to Konoha? I am a nuke-nin or am I dead? Plus I did try to get you to join me."

Gaara simply turned right, heading down the hall in the direction Shikamaru had gone previously. Naruto stepped out of the cell, watching his friend's back grow smaller as he walked farther down the hallway and turned away... walking the opposite way.

He'd take that as a no.

When Shikamaru came back, he'd be surprised to see an empty cell.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Yugito sighed. Here it goes again, she'd have to suffer through another one of Killer bee's "conversations", if they could even be called that. Getting past his horrible rhymes and disharmonious voice was a chore in and of itself, but actually understanding what the guy was talking about was next to impossible. There were probably two people who could _fully_ understand Bee's rhythmic speech mannerisms; Yugito herself and Bee's brother... the Raikage.

"Yugi-chan... Oh no! I can't go with you, I ride solo!" Killer bee shouted out at the top of his lungs."Yeah, I'm me, the one and only lone ranger, Killer Bee!"

Yugito grabbed his ear, pulling him down to her height. He tipped over on one foot, chanting "ow, ow, ow!" But she quickly shushed him, sometimes it seemed like she was the adult. He seemed to settle down into a less raffish demeanor after a few more moments of ear tugging.

"Shh, shut up!" She whispered through her teeth, "No one in Kumo knows that I'm even here, and I'm not about to let you expose me. And stop it with the rhyming."

Bee nodded, sitting down on the wooden stool he'd placed down for himself. After a moment he said: "Explain to me Yugi-chan, who's this Uzumaki guy?" Bee had finally stopped rhyming, he was serious now, at least she thought as much. "And what's so special about him, besides him being one of us. Actually... he'd better not be one lesser than you, how many tails does he have?" Bee's brow rose above the rim of his shades as he leaned in.

"Nine."

"..."

"Yeah... " She said flatly, "and he's seriously got something planned. For us jinchuuriki... exclusively! I met him during that stupid festival, he uh... killed my guard."

Bee leaned back, his lips parted laughing heartily. "I expected you to do that!"

"I was trying not to. But that's not important, what's important is that you follow me to where he is."

Bee scoffed, "No, I don't want to meet him. Yeah, he can plan whatever it is... but I'm happy like this."

"Oh come on, Bee! Just meet him... once, for me!" Yugito placed her palms together above her head, "Please! He wants to bring us Jinchuuriki together, for the first time. Doesn't that sound interesting?" She pleaded.

"Not really Yugi-chan, actually what it sounds like is that you've got the hots for him." Yugito gasped, her face glowing hot-red.

"I-I don't, I'm just interested in his plan!"

Bee inched closer to her, poking her in the side with his elbow, "Sure you are."

Yugito frowned, her eyes heated with anger. She'd prove it; she grabbed the nape of her shirt and pulled it away and turned around to fully reveal her neck. "Look at this seal!" Bee's finger jutted forth and in seconds he was pointing at it.

"Whoa where you get that?"He asked, his voice now filled with zeal.

"_He _gave it to me, he said that I'd need to learn how to stop using Nibi." Bee gripped his chin, deep in thought; perhaps this Naruto person was actually worth the visit. Going so far as to personally visit Yugito _and_ mark her with a seal. He must have had something big planned, or at least something with a worthwhile result. It was tempting, going to meet the nine-tails, but was it worth it?

"Oh...," Yugito smiled, "And he said that he wanted to fight you, you know just to see how you guys measured up against each other."

The steam practically bellowed out of Killer bee's nose when he shot up like a rocket. "OOOOHHHH, hahaha... why didn't you say so? This guy sounds pretty interesting!"

Yugito smiled once again, chuckling nervously. Bee could so gullible at times. She then wondered how Naruto would take this when he got back. Well he couldn't complain... she'd done what he'd asked of her... just in a different way.

XXXXXXXXX

Hey, so how did every one like this first chapter. As you can see, with Yugito I did a bit of age tinkering, making her a teen as opposed to an adult like she appears in actual canon. Why, well, BECAUSE I CAN! I really don't have that much to say except what almost everyone else says and I'm saying it because its true.

Review... NOW! It would make me a happy person. I want to see how far this gets me. So without further ado, please move onto the next chapter...now.


	2. Rescue the Beast

Alrighty, just the second chapter, that's all. No big deal or anything like that. Keep reading guys, READ! I've got a couple pretty short fight scenes for you guys in this chapter, hope you enjoy it! I was so sleepy when I was writing this, so my judgment on the twists and turns of this chapter could be skewed. I don't know, You guys tell me.

I want to keep it short so I'll just leave it off on that note.

Now, on with the story!

* * *

><p>MindPlay<p>

It didn't take too long for a change to occur within the young Jinchuuriki's mind. After his encounter with Gaara, he'd been taxed with trying to sneak back out of the village, because with his earlier commotion, he could not leave underneath the guise of the Kazekage like he had done coming in. In truth, it had been harder trying to sneak out then it had been trying to sneak in. Ironic huh? He didn't appreciate the irony though.

The sand whipped his face, again; his back was turned, facing the split mountainside that was Suna's gate. Inside his pockets he balled his fists tightly, the skin turning almost snow white. _Dammit, I'd been so sure about it. _And he had, really, but now that he looked back in retrospect, he'd been rather naive. He should have known. Gaara was his friend, but unlike Yugito, he was not so impressionable. It was stupid of him to even think that Gaara would dare raise his hand against his most trusted ally.

Yes, so stupid of him. His hood covered his eyes, hiding his furrowed eyebrows that indicated his anger. He slipped his hands from his pockets; it would be a long journey back, and he really did not have the time to walk the entire thing. So, heading in one general direction, northeast, Naruto broke out into a brisk jog. The routine movement helped calm his nerves, the shakiness of his hands and legs begin to dissipate after a few minutes of solid jogging which then slipped into running.

The sun was aimed high in the air, baking his back. It was tolerable, he thought, better his back then his face, but he wouldn't be surprised if he came back with a tan after this. That was unlikely. Subdued by the thoughts of his failure at recruiting Gaara, Naruto turned his mind to a question that he'd been dying to ask... himself for some time now.

"What did I... do wrong?" He said, in between the steady breaths of his run. "Was I really that stupid?" It was a thought, and maybe, just maybe it was a veritable one. Maybe Naruto _was_ really that stupid. Previously, he had not thought as much, but now that he had his hood flipped over his eyes in shame; the illusion that he'd been trying to avoid may have actually been reality.

The wind was picking up; he could tell by the way his body reacted to hearing its howl. Naruto grimaced, wind meant motion and in a desert, motion equated with a sandstorm.

_Fuck I need to pick up the pace_, he thought to himself. Another thought occurred as well. Exactly how long had he been running for? This heat was unbearable! On the way here, there had been quite a large and unusually rare cloud hovering overhead. It was weird, but the shade was appreciated back then, he simply thanked Kami and went along his way.

He dug his foot into the ground, picking up the pace; the gritty sand collapsed and dispersed beneath his footsteps, pulling him further. One foot switched places with the other in a quicker motion, for the desert seemed to be howling even louder around him. The sand seemed to be alive, lifting itself from the ground, swirling with ferocity.

But as quickly as he'd taken his steps, he'd set them to an abrupt stop. The sand was swirling. Swirling! Around him! His eyes glanced around frantically, maybe a little nervously. What the hell was up with the wind today? Rather than the wind, it seemed that only the sand was moving about in its serpentine fashion, like it was aliv-

Gaara.

Could it have been, was it really him? A slight curl developed on the side of Naruto's lips, a fanged smile. Why? Did Gaara change his mind?

He would have his answer soon enough. The sand wrapped itself into a spin five feet away from him, a funnel of tan and gravel that howled like a mass of wolves. It kicked up in velocity, forcing Naruto's hand to move up to protect his face. At one point it became so fierce, the howl so orotund that Naruto was forced to open his mouth-letting the sand in and yell out.

The word "Gaara!" tore through his vocal cords and as if the sand really could hear him, it ceased. Just like that, leaving tiny pieces of sandy minutia to skydive to the ground. Now Naruto was really smiling, for the sand had brought with it its partner.

Gaara stood in front of Naruto, clad in the attire he wore previously. The teal of his eyes were as hard as stone. For a long gravid moment, the two jinchuuriki said nothing, opting to stare into the color of each others eyes. Naruto wanted to speak, he was twitching even, yet as subtle as a silent kunai, something struck him, telling him to keep his mouth shut. He listened obediently.

Gaara stuck his hand out, his head was turned to the side. Reluctance perhaps? He did not want to look his way? Naruto didn't spend anymore time wondering about it, Gaara's hand was still hanging tightly in the air. Then _his_ hand moved, slowly.

It grasped Gaara's firmly. Then they stood there, pausing until Naruto said:

"Well, will you be joining with me or not?" His voice was laced with hope.

Gaara's response came immediately after Naruto spoke, as if he'd been dying to release a held breath. "No," he gasped. Naruto's mouth opened for a moment, the closed, then hung open once more. His eyebrows were arched like a bridge.

"Then why come here?"

"Because-" he paused, the memory of his motives rushing back.

_Shikamaru placed a hand on Gaara's shaking shoulder and he turned to meet the boy's sour expression. The orange light from his office window reflected off of Shikamaru's dull irises.  
><em>

_"I let him go," Gaara said. "I let him get away because he was like me." Shikamaru grimaced but did not criticize, it seemed that Shikamaru could empathize. _

_"Then this certainly makes it harder to catch him now that we know he's alive..." the Nara mumbled._

Gaara's hand tightened around Naruto's and he turned his head to face him for the first time in minutes. The sand began to swirl around the blond boy's feet. Gaara had chosen to complete his previous sentence, "Because-...Because... Naruto-"

_As Shikamaru turned to walk out of the room Gaara suddenly sprang to life, grabbing hold of his arm. He held his face low to the wood of his desk, a tear dripped slowly onto it. "Wait, I'll capture him, he's still in the dessert now... I can feel it. I'll bring him back." _

_Shikamaru shook his head, you know Gaara almost sounded like Naruto when he said that, well... the old Naruto anyway. "No, don't bring him back, the council doesn't want him back, kill him instead... unless its to much for-"_

_Gaara inhaled sharply, "No... I'll do it. It's better that it be me. I'll... kill Naruto." _

The sand began swirling around the unwitting blond's feet with an even fiercer spin than before. The howl of the sand had returned, except it was lower, just barely audible. Naruto seemed to understand Gaara's intentions because his eyes were closed now.

"I'm sorry." The sand began to creep up Naruto's legs, the grainy sound of it traveling up his clothing sounded a bit like rain pattering against cement. In seconds Naruto's waist was colored tan; in a minute-Gaara's reluctance caused his sand to move even more slowly- it was up to the blond's neck, covering everything but the arm still latched onto Gaara's hand. "Sand... coff-" Gaara began to pronounce.

But before the sand's terrible embrace could spring to life and crush him, Naruto's ruby red eyes snapped open. His smile was sadistic, the filed canines in his upper jaw gleamed menacingly with the sun's light. Gaara actually almost took a step back. This wasn't Naruto he was looking at anymore, this person _was _the demon; Gaara could tell by the way he smiled so lucidly in the face of his own death-dealer. The old Naruto would have never had this much fun in a situation like this...or maybe. Gaara's eyes narrowed onto Naruto's still smiling face.

Maybe... he wasn't having fun.

Maybe he was hysterical.

Now Naruto gripped Gaara's hand, his newly razor claws tore precious skin. "Do it, Gaara! Kill me, I know you can, your twice as strong as I! You can end it all, end me... with one final syllable." Naruto turned his head to the side, like the Cheshire cat would have and said, "Or maybe, you don't want to kill me. Because deep down, somewhere in your sub-conscience, you _want_ to help me?"

Gaara gripped tightly as well, fighting back the torrent of feeling flowing through him. The wind howled so that his voice was only a few decibels from being muted "No... I won't help you... Naruto. You have to stop this, or else you'll die right here, right now! You're right, I want to help, because you are in a way, my brother, but I can't."

Then it came unexpectedly, the fierce burning in his palm. The scorch of branding chakra that flowed from Naruto's hand and burned its way into Gaara's palm. The blue haze that developed between their handshake was accompanied by a small fizz of sizzling flesh. Gaara yelled out in pain, falling to his knees in an instant; Naruto still stood upright though, and he never let go of Gaara's hand. His smile was infernal like the burning between their palms. Through the dessert howl and his own fleshy sizzling Gaara heard Naruto utter two words:

"Too late." And like that Naruto let go, letting Gaara's hand dropped to the soft bed of hot sand, which in comparison to the burning in his palms felt like a bed of ice. Naruto slipped his hand back into his pockets and waited as the ululation of wind and sand died down. Gaara's own breathing was coarse and strained. His head pounded from sledgehammers of nausea. He could feel his chakra like he could feel the air, minutely and he only aware of its presence because he knew it existed.

"Uuuuuh," Gaara moaned.

When the sand was gone and the landscape silent Naruto gave Gaara one more look. A certain look that made Gaara want to read Naruto's mind, an enigmatic look. "I'll be seeing you, Kazekage, Jinchuuriki...my brother." Naruto said before turning around and heading northeast.

When Naruto's back had faded away and Gaara's head reoriented itself, the Kazekage did nothing but slump further to the ground. His other hand, which hadn't touched Naruto, he used to moved a bed of sand beneath him in order to carry himself back to the village.

It burned so much!

Gaara glanced at his hand, grimacing when he saw the kanji for the number one branded into his skin. Naruto was right it was too late, he was now officially a part of this.

XXXXXXXX

Tsunade was sitting in her room, lips sipping away at a small saucer of her wonderful sake when Shikamaru came marching in. He literally kicked the door open before slapping his hands down onto her desk.

She looked at him with a questioning eye as he fought to catch his breath. The questioning look soon got serious... he was interrupting her sake time; this had to be important.

Shikamaru took a few moments to collect himself, he was sweaty, dirty, tired...dirty, frantic...dirty, and actually a little scared of the look Tsunade was giving him. Oh and not to mention dirty.

"What is it, Shikamaru?" She asked sternly.

"The Kazekage was... attacked," he puffed between breaths.

"What?" Tsunade leaned out of her seat, "do we have any knowledge of the assailant?"

Shikamaru nodded once, his eyes swiveling down to the small white square on Tsunade's desk, they had the words "Believe it!" printed on the back. He swiped it up, holding it between his middle and forefinger; turning the image to Tsunade, and pointed at the blond smiling mop of hair.

"An old friend, that we _both_ need to speak to the council about."

XXXXXXXX

Yugito woke up to a very... unsettling sight, one that, sort of freaked her out. It was _very_ weird, yes, but strangely... she liked it. She liked the smile on his face, she liked the way his canines were sharpened in an almost ludic fashion, the way his blue eyes, sparkling blue eyes, watched her. And she knew that even before she'd been awake, he had still been watching her.

But it was still _very_ odd that Naruto had been watching her sleep. She was confused; should she have been flattered? Maybe not and most likely, it wasn't in the way she thought.

"Did you sleep well?" He said, turning his head away to look out the window. His clothes were ragged and dusty, the harsh rupture of a few minuscule tears along the hems of his attire signified that he'd been in a fight. His hair was wild and untamed and the blondness of it was hinted with the light tan of grainy sand. He looked a mess, but even worse he smelled like one as well. She wrinkled her nose, pinching her nostrils closed between her thumb and forefinger.

"You smell," she said, her voice still head that raspy sleep-worn tone. Naruto shrugged.

"Deal with it," he replied, "besides I'm going to take a shower in a little while. So... how did it go?" He asked, his eyes gliding over to the glass balcony doors, where they settled onto the town laying in the vista.

"He's in the room down stairs," Yugito replied, now sitting up in the bed. Naruto seemed to understand what she meant by that, it elicited a tiny smile at the corner of his lips.

"Excellent."

"You...?"

Naruto actually froze for a moment, the smile quickly fading. After a moment he said, "You could say that I got him."

"And by that you mean-"

Naruto interrupted, "I mean, he's on our side, but not _on _our side."

"So you failed?"

Naruto actually humored her accusation, chuckling a bit. Standing up, he walked over to the door. "Partially," he muttered, he leaned on the frame for a moment, seeming to immerse himself inside of his own thought, and for a long while it looked as though he wouldn't say anything. But then, his hand moved up and he indicated, with two curls of his index finger, that he wanted her to come over to him.

She listened. No resistance at all, which was far more than strange for her. She was always the rebellious type, reluctant to a fine-point, but strangely, when around this certain jinchuuriki; she wanted to listen and that she wanted to obey. Because he seemed to have orders worth following. His acknowledgment gave her a very warped sense of pleasure.

Why? She had no clue.

Well, she supposed it was because she wanted him to like her. Not in _that _way, but in a way that put her on good terms with him. He was a friend, a powerful one at that; he had benefits, and she wanted those benefits. So she would obey willingly, one could say that by being of use to him, he could have been some use to her. It was weird like that.

Yugito moved swiftly from the bed over to Naruto's fore, holding her hands folded in front of her, like a kitten waiting for her master to toss her the yarn. Naruto gave her a size up, his stare stirred up a bit of a tingle in her stomach, but she didn't let it show. He was supposed to like her, and she him, but nothing further.

His brow rose to an arch, "You're wearing my clothes..." He pointed at the blue pajamas she was wearing.

"I-I... didn't have anything to sleep in." A light hue of red appeared above the ridge of her nose and her cheeks turn rosy pink.

"Fine," Naruto said dropping the matter. His hand shot past her face and clamped onto the back of her neck. She blushed deeply and the urge to yelp almost won. Naruto gazed at her for a moment. She just wondered what the hell he was doing.

"Um... what are yo-"

The answer came with a sharp jolt of...something she'd place between pain and pleasure. Naruto's fingers rested lightly above the two points of her bite mark.

"All done," he said.

"What did you do?" She asked, cocking her head to the side.

"Maintenance," he answered.

"For what?"

"For the seal I gave you, I have to check how strong it is on you every now and then."

"...Oh, alright. Is that all you need?" When Naruto nodded she said, "So I can go back to sleep right?" Naruto nodded again and in almost less then two seconds, the sheets were wrapping themselves around Yugito's body, her pillow seemed to curve tightly around the shape of her head.

Before Naruto turned to leave he had one more question that he wanted to asked though.

"Just curious," He began, "Exactly _how_ did you get Killer Bee to come here?"

Yugito's eyes snapped open, good thing her back was to Naruto or he would have seen her expression. Which went from worried to mischievous in seconds. An infernal smile warped her lips, "You'll find out in the morning when he wakes up." She responded.

Naruto had a bad feeling about those words but shrugged off the anxiety as he turned and walked out.

XXXXXXXXX

Naruto's eye twitched dangerously, his teeth clenched together tightly. Through his nostrils he blew out a plume of exasperation, it was very much obvious that he was starting to get annoyed.

"YO Bro' what's the deally O'?"

"Shut up." He responded.

"Yeah! Of course, but your words bite me and hurt, I wont stop talking until ya' fight me squirt!"

Naruto was sitting on his couch with a bowl of ramen in his hand that leaned dangerously off the side of his palm. For once in his life time, Uzumaki Naruto _wasn't_ paying attention to his food. Why...because of the tall, dark, and bizarre FREAK who would not stop bugging him about a fight.

Just as Naruto was about to take another slurp of soup, Killer Bee's voice erupted in his ear yet again.

"FAITO, Biatch!" He bellowed.

Off to the side, Yugito looked on with mischievously curious eyes. She sat curled in a little ball across from him, hugging a pillow and her knees to her chest. Her grin answered all of Naruto's questions. It was her; she was the one who was making this all happen. Killer Bee wanted to fight.. because Yugito promised him one.

Naruto placed the bowl of ramen on the dark-wood coffee table and covered both sides of his ears. "Make him stop," he groaned, clenching his eyes shut. "How can you even take this guy's prattling?"

Yugito's neck fell limp as it cocked to the side innocently. "What ever do you mean, Naruto-kun...?" She didn't mean to... but she let the honorific slip out. The oddest feeling told her that Naruto's seal was doing something to her.

"Naruto...kun?" Bee repeated, his voice rising in pitch accented by his confused tone. At that moment, his rhyming ceased. "You like this kid _that _much to refer to him as Naruto-kun, _you_ of all people?" Bee glanced over at Naruto who simply shrugged.

"I was clueless about this until now."

Yugito's hands flew up, waving frantically. "N-no it's not like that... its just that... um, you know..." She blushed down to her toes. Since when was she so friendly? More or less a person who she only knew for a couple of days? It was that aura of his, rubbing off on her like a skunk's stench, almost impossible to get off once it got on. It was hard getting Naruto off her mind; all she thought of was him and his plan. Mostly the plan though.

"... That's it, c'mon kid, I was promised a fight..." Bee's hand shot out grabbing Naruto by the nape of his collar, puling him off the couch with relative ease. "Where can we fight?"

"If we must," Naruto grumbled, his feet hovered above the ground, "then I'll fight you."

"Yes!"

XXXXXXXXXXX

Gaara sat in his office, his forehead gleamed with sweat. He leaned over his desk, his nose hovering just a few inches over the burnished wood. His breath was volatile, his eyes were wide and bloodshot. A blast from the past insanity of his younger days seemed to be upon him. Was that it? Was he going insane? Was he imagining all of this?

Did he not feel another presence, was this mark on his hand ever going to stop burning? No he wasn't, this was all real, not a fabrication of insanity. Naruto had really done that to him, marked him with a common rune. The seal said nine. But what could he draw from that...nothing that's what! His hand could have exploded for all he knew and he wouldn't have been able to do a single thing about it. Well... there was one thing that he could draw from the seal but...

He supposed that was what he deserved for trying to kill Naruto, maybe Naruto knew beforehand and this was some sort of countermeasure to protect himself. After all Naruto couldn't have killed him, he was a Kage!

And yet his hand still burned feverishly.

Since when had Naruto become so adept at making a person feel utterly helpless? That was supposed to be his thing.

Gaara grumbled as he looked at the potted Sand Lily on his desk; the flower's petals were dusty brown and streaked with white. It only reminded him of the squirming pain in his palm. It bothered him so much that his breath was forced to filter out through his teeth, that he was force to pound an indentation into his desk every thirty seconds.

Slowly he rose to his feet, clumsily knocking down his chair in the process. He made his way to the clear glass doors leading out to his balcony. He needed a breath of fresh air, that would surely sooth or at least draw his mind away from the burning in his palms. He pushed open the doors, deeply inhaling the nighttime air through his nostrils.

"Infiltration complete." He heard someone say.

Gaara's eyes snapped open to see a smallish blond man with hair draping over one eye kneeling down on his balcony. His eyes were a dull color, looking bluish-grey in the glow of the moonlight. Above him he noticed a rather large white avian circling overhead like a vulture. He'd seen it before but the pain in his hand was distracting as it was, so he simply overlooked it. What the man wore on his body soon became an apparent problem that Gaara had grimaced to after realizing what it was: black robe with red clouds.

Akatsuki...

Why now?

The man smiled.

Gaara's hand still seethed with pain and yet in this most unlucky of times he could not afford to show any weakness, not even the slightest trace of it. Even fear the size of a grain of sand would be his undoing. And against an opponent like this, he could not afford to be seen as weak, that would only serve to make this kneeling man grow bold. Boldness in the face of a Kage?

How foolish.

Gaara stood up straight, clenching his fist tightly. The man simply grinned again, his eyes growing wilder as his lips parted to reveal his teeth. Gaara simply grumbled, what a show of gusto indeed. It was not often that someone was actually excited about fighting him. The audaciousness of his needed to be fixed, instantaneously.

Gaara wasted no time, the dark brown sand was already leaking from his gourd, spilling over like liquid. The Akatsuki member seemed to notice, for his eyes were already scanning the shifting tides of brown swirling around his feet. He was observant.

Without any movement, the sand rose violently, surrounding the blond. There was no time to strangle, he simply intended to crush his opponent. But before that could happen the man had already launched himself into the air; his bizarre avian cosset was there to catch him.

He mentally cursed, shifting his hand upward and sending a snake-like tendril of sand after the the man and his bird. His granular weapon actually seemed to hiss or at least drone as it twisted and turned with a life of its own. The man's bird made those exact twists and turns; it dodged and evaded and ducked, slipping through every aerial assault Gaara bombarded him with. The guy was adept at evasive maneuvers, the speed of his odd creature alerted Gaara to the fact.

Suddenly his sand was forced to descend; the Akatsuki member made a sharp dive down toward the streets of the village. Gaara's brow became moist with apprehension. Was it a possible attempt to make him strike his own villagers? Most likely.

Just as the bird's beak was about to collide with the ground its body curved into a tight ninety degree pull upward that put its belly on level with the ground. It now soared swiftly above the street, mere inches separated it from the ground. Still Gaara's sand persisted, curving just as sharply as the bird did and pursued it vigorously. Of course now that his sand was closer to the ground he was forced to slow down, which was not a problem. He had other ways of catching his prey.

The man's bird flapped its mighty wings, stopping when two other tendrils of sand erupted from the ground in front of it to intercept. It screeched and darted left in to a alleyway before curving back up into the air. Gaara's hissing sand tendrils followed. He gained altitude, going higher.

So Gaara did the same. The Kage launched himself in the air using a thin cloud of sand to catch himself and stay afloat.

Underneath the turbid sky, Gaara had now become parallel to his combatant in the air. They locked eyes for a long drawn-out second. In that moment Gaara gave his opponent a quick look up and down. He forced his brow, or lack thereof, down. The man looked rather young and effeminate, judging by the way his Akatsuki robes fluttered loosely around his body it was safe to assume that he did not possess a lot of muscle mass. Much like Gaara himself, which was one of the things that gave him off as a long range fighter.

That was when the Akatsuki member opened his lips to speak. "How did you find me so quickly."

Gaara pointed at the man's awkward bird, "Birds like that don't exist in this dessert."

The blond man simply laughed, "I guess my stealthy tactics failed. But that's good," he moved his finger to his left eye, revealing a horrid contraption with a lens fixed in the middle right where his eye would be. He tapped it and it clicked as if it were a camera. "Now I don't have to waste time searching for you."

Gaara had heard enough, the pain in his arm was beginning to get to him. He'd end this quickly.

The Akatsuki member's eyes widened as he glanced down and to his surprise, dozens of sand globules came floating up from the ground much like the goo in a lava lamp and clumped together in one large dusty mass behind Gaara. The sand's form was free and volatile, it shifted as if it were alive. With a toss of his hand, the sand attacked, rushing at the man in a rush of brown. Immediately he was brought back on the defensive, swerving, diving and dodging.

And after a few moment of evasive maneuvering, the blond turned back to see that he was being pursued by a claw composed of sand that looked disturbingly similar to flesh.

Gaara suddenly screamed out in pain, gripping his hand.

"Hm, I haven't even done anything yet," the man mumbled quietly to himself. There seemed to be something burned into that fleshy hand of sand. Perhaps that was the reason for the Jinchuuriki's pain?

Glowing and branded into the lumpy claw of sand's palm was a giant red kanji... it said 'one'.

The man arched his brow. The toothy slits on his palm had stopped chewing, indicating that his ammunition had been prepared. The man smiled, turning his head to look past the rushing arm of sand directly into Gaara's eyes.

The boy's look was feral, his pupils were now tan and shaped oddly like a four point star. Shukaku had finally decided to show himself, however it was a surprise, the one-tailed Jinchuuriki was said to have had control of over his beast. At least that was what the intel said but of course intel was always limited in one way or another.

With a speed unseen before Gaara sent the giant claw of sand rushing at the blond man.

XXXXXXXXXX

Naruto landed in a somewhat crouched position, the strain was tight on his knees. He looked up just in time to catch a dagger-like blade, he gripped its body firmly by the hilt; the tip of the weapon was dangerously close to piercing his nose. A numbing pain surged through his body and Naruto immediately dropped the weapon.

"Electric blades? Come on, give me a bre-" Naruto stopped his complaining long enough to notice Bee, who was already on him. This guy was flipping and swerving all over the place, he looked more like a flying ball of needles than a highly skilled jinchuuriki, but truth be told, he was! Bee came with ferocious velocity, sliding in and out of attacks before he even had time to devise a way of countering. He had an extremely volatile style of fighting, that, because of its unpredictability, gave it some stability. He would give everything he owned to borrow Kakashi's eye right about now.

Stated concisely, he was outmatched. It was Bee's insane eight blades against his two hidden blades, and Bee's blades conducted electricity. How many times had Bee stabbed him? He was beginning to lose count; had it not been for his healing factor his skin would have been as porous as a sponge. He might as well have been a sponge, Bee was moping the floor with him, pun intended

A flurry of a quick blades had him extending his wrist blades instinctively, the metal of his blades clanged loudly against the metal of Bee's.

Yugito sat quietly (cross-legged) on a rock, watching, her eyes darting swiftly in order to follow the pace of the battle. The grassy pasture they were sparring on had been reduced to barren land. The only thing that remained untouched was the creek flowing undisturbed beside them. That is until Naruto went sailing into the water.

He regained his footing on top of the water. "How's your match going Naruto-dono?" Yugito called out to him. He glanced at her; she was smiling. He was frowning.

"Just fine, Yugito-san, now would you please shut-" Naruto froze his tongue and looked down. Bee's hand had latched onto his ankle, slowly dragging him down. Bee then tugged, violently dragging Naruto down underneath the water. For a moment, bubbles popped along the water's surface.

Yugito raised her brow, "Wonder what's gonna happen?" She said.

Her answer came when the surface of the creak exploded upward in a spray of mist, and flying out of the mist was Naruto's limp body bending across Killer Bee's arm.

Yugito placed straightened fingers over her forehead, "Home run," she muttered, watching Naruto and Bee sail through the air.

"Lariat biatch!" Bee screamed, using the same arm to fling Naruto down onto the creek edge. Half of his body in and the other out of the creek, Naruto groaned painfully.

"Oh what a surprise," Yugito said, almost sounding bored,"... you lost."

Naruto coughed up both water and blood. "Shut...up," he sputtered before his body went loose, his head lolling to the side.

Bee landed a few feet from Naruto. He then walked over to his prone body. "What, that was hardly a fight! Get up and battle me with all your might!"

Naruto did not respond.

"Faito!"

"Shut up!" Naruto yelled, opening his eyes, "Can't a guy pass out in peace?"

"Not unless, you're ready to do more battlin', c'mon let me fight ya' I'll have ya' rattlin' kid."

"Stop," he coughed, "rhyming. I'll fight again later."

Bee looked at him for a second, his full expression hidden behind the partial obscurity of his shades. "Fine then kid." Bee extended his arm out, putting his fist out.

Naruto looked at the fist for a moment. Yugito mentioned something liked this to him right before they started sparring. He knew what to do. Ignoring the taut pain in his arm he gently bumped his fist against Bee's before letting his entire arm drop like a weight.

"S-so you'll help me out then?" Naruto asked.

"Hell naw!" Bee exclaimed.

Naruto attempted sitting up but went back down due to the pain in his chest and ribs, "W-what, why not? I gave you your fight!" he asked in a raspy tone.

Bee then let out a hearty laugh, slapping his gut. "Sorry kid, I came here only to throw down. Since we're done, I'm headin' out of this town."

Naruto hit his head against the ground. "Fuck," he said.

"I forgot to mention," Yugito said, "Bee never stays in one place for long." She gave him a slight giggle. "Sorry, I never made any promises that Bee would join us."

Bee laughed once more.

"Then Bee" Naruto said, completely serious now, "can you promise me that you won't tell anyone where I am." There was a brief pause filled with silence before Killer gave Naruto a nod. He shook his head. "No, not good enough Bee, I need you to swear on your blood that you won't tell a soul about my little hiding spot."

Bee could see the gravity in his eyes, his deep blue irises did not waver, he was not blinking. He puffed out his chest and tapped his hand against it twice.

"I swear," Bee began, "on my blood as a jinchuuriki that I won't attempt to tell anybody." Bee waited with his fist to his chest for Naruto's response.

"Good, thanks a lot."

Bee put up two fingers, the sign for victory and peace.

XXXXXXX

After Yugito helped Naruto, slowly, back to his home, they had both taken to sitting in the living room. Naruto, sprawled out on his couch snored lightly, his hand dangled over the edge, brushing against the circular carpet. Parallel to him, Yugito sat on the couch (cross-legged), hugging the same pillow she'd been hugging before Bee and Naruto had their match.

Her eyes were fixed on him, she stared seriously. She couldn't help but wonder what she was even doing here, here sitting on another boy's couch in a house in which _he_ owned. It was all for the plan, the devious plot, devised in order get back at the world right? Designed by and for the average jinchuuriki, so it seemed.

But was that the only reason why she was here? She felt the back of her neck. Come to think of it, she still hadn't even seen it, her seal that is. Yugito's mind instantly went to work conjuring up dozens of exotic runes and patterns and applying them to the back of her neck. Now she actually felt the need to go and look at it; quietly getting up she tip-toed past the couched and made a silent dash down the hall and up the stairs.

She burst into the bathroom doors and pulled her hair up. She tried twisting her neck in multiple directions, straining her eyes to the very corners of her sockets, attempting to take a glance at her seal. Every time she tried and failed, she would let out an uncomfortable groan of defeat.

Yugito then went digging into the mirror cabinet in hopes of finding another small mirror to assist her. When she found one, one with a plastic orange rim, she turned her back toward the cabinet mirror... and yelped.

The smaller mirror dropped from her hands, but Naruto caught it before it smashed to sharp pieces on the floor. "Careful," he warned, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "Curious about the seal?"

"Uh...a little." Yugito responded sheepishly. She hadn't even heard him come in. Naruto held the mirror in front of her, and for a moment Yugito struggled to see the reflection _of_ the reflection of her neck. But when she did, her eyes widened. It was far from what she expected, nothing exotic, nothing amazing, rather her seal looked to be more of a seal of ownership.

"T-two?" She said confused, "Two... What the fuck? Two? You bit the kanji for two into me? What are you trying to do, copyright me?" Yugito clenched her teeth; Naruto could see them begin to lengthen. As the saying went, hell hath no fury like a jinchuuriki woman scorned. She grabbed a fistful of his worn-out sparring clothes, the cloth ripping from the pointed tips of her claws.

"Whoa, now wait, I know this looks kinda bad but-"

"But what?" Yugito snarled, "I _do not_ want to be walking around with a label on my neck! It's demoralizing!"

Naruto turned his head to the side, she obviously had some feminist issues, "I know, I'm sorry, the number has nothing to do with your bijuu other than its tail count okay? The number two was just my personal flare." Yugito shook his head roughly a couple of times.

"Then change how it looks!"

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because a seal is a seal once its made a seal, can't be changed, can't be altered; it can only be layered with others or removed... and I'm _not_ removing it."

Yugito was silent for a moment, it seemed that she was taking a moment to swallow down multiple her lumps of pride. He wouldn't remove it and she definitely wasn't letting him layer her neck with another seal. "...You don't own me." She said.

"I know, but I would like to."

She kneed Naruto in the nuts, hard, causing him to release a deep grunt from his throat. She let go of him and watched him slowly fall to floor. Naruto curled into the fetal position. "Oh kami..." he wheezed.

"You deserved it." She said.

" Your... right. But I'll get you b-back."

"How?" She asked, curious. Curiosity always killed the cat.

Naruto laughed, although it sounded painful to do so. "That seal..Ah..I designed it specifically for you and it responds especially well to me. It increases libido whenever you activate your two-tailed chakra, and I've already seen how horny you can get without your chakra."

Yugito then took a step back, "What, t-that's it...so if I try to use Nibi's chakra... I get...horny? That's lame."

Naruto smiled, reached his hand out and dragged his fingertips along Yugito's exposed leg. His touched burned with pleasure, almost as if he'd just dragged fingertips of fire across her skin. Yugito shuddered and took a quick inhale of breath, she quickly moved her tingling leg back. "Whoa, what the hell?"

"Is it really that lame Yugito-san?" She didn't respond, her face was fervid and red. "Help me up please." He asked.

Yugito narrowed her eyes, he was toying with her. She would not help him up, he was tinkering with her body, how could she, why would she? But in her current state, if she touched Naruto again, it would feel good, that caress of warmth that her body responded so eagerly to. She _was_ just a bit curious as to what just happened, one more touch wouldn't hurt right?. Her arms moved on their own, her knees automatically bended down to she help him up. She hadn't even given her limbs the command, that was their idea, they just... moved. _She_ wanted for nothing more than to walk out and leave him on the floor, but her body was driving her. She shouldn't have been helping him! She needed to stop and walk away right there...but that tingle in her leg...

When she took his hand and pulled Naruto up from the floor, the fire came back through her palm and again her body acted on her own. She not only pulled him up, but she pulled him closer to her chest. As ashamed as she was about it, she knew that she'd try to get Naruto to touch her again. Purely for the physical pleasure of course, nothing more. But still... he was treating her like an animal in heat... and she was acting like one!

"So, do you like my gift?" Naruto asked, although Yugito could barely hear him.

With frayed breaths through her wide open maw she exhaled out, "I hate you," in one continuous stream of sound. From one jinchuuriki to another, Yugito was already oddly attracted to him, this just made it worse. Naruto ran his hand through her hair, she closed her eyes and breathed in gently.

And as soon as it had come, the fire was gone. Naruto had removed his hand and limped out of the bathroom. He threw up the "V" for victory sign with his fingers before leaving, much like Bee had done after their spar. "Property of the nine-tails," he said before fully disappearing down the hall in search of a nice, cool ice pack.

Yugito simply rested herself on the toilet, her nails retracting, her teeth becoming blunter. She looked down...and saw that she was wet.

XXXXXXXXXX

Tsunade and Shikamaru both stood as a centerpiece right now, it was like they were two tacky ornaments for the eyes of the ninja council to leer at in disgust, with the exception of one of course.

"Tsunade, state your reason for calling this meeting." Koharu Utatane's voice certainly did hold a tinge of highhandedness whenever she spoke with Tsunade, and even more so her smug expression did nothing to belie her true disposition. There was no walking around it, simply put, the old lady, richly dressed in brown and cream robes, hair tied in a bun, was just as sour as ever.

"I assume that it is something important," said Homura Mitakado, Koharu's former comrade and additional member of the council. He leaned forward, adjusting his glasses impatiently, a gesture for her to proceed.

Tsunade did not respond to either of them, rather she aimed her plea toward the one, newest, member of the ninja council that would not lift his chin to her as she spoke: Sarutobi Hiruzen. His new elegant black robes still brought out his regal qualities, although his previous Hokage attire suited him much better.

"Sarutobi-sensei," she said still using the affectionate suffix, "I'm sure the news hasn't reached you yet, as I was just told of it myself, but the Kazekage was attacked. All three sets of eyes widened slightly at the news.

"And what is the source of this information?"

Tsunade turned to Shikamaru, his hands were crossed behind his back as he leaned lazily to one side, nervously trying to avoid their stares. It must have been a total drag to be stared at like that. "The Nara," Tsunade said. He twitched slightly at her all too unfriendly naming.

"Y-yes, that's right." Shikamaru responded meekly

Koharu seemed to inhale deeply, as if pondering. She trusted the Nara, she knew of their intelligence, and bore no hostility toward them. Even so, she couldn't help but not know how to question this child.

Tsunade began, "During his recent journey to the Sand village he witnessed a certain assailant attempting to stir up some trouble in the village's main district, apparently he battled the the Kazekage's two older siblings and disabled them, forcing Shikamaru here to arrest the assailant himself."

"I can see how that came about," Sarutobi said, "your family's shadow jutsu sure do come in handy."

"Thank you." Shikamaru responded flatly, wary to not get too flattered in their presence.

Tsunade continued, "After the assailant, male, was taken into custody, he apparently escaped... and during that time... attacked the Kazekage."

Homura glanced at Shikamaru, "Is that the accurate truth?"

Shikamaru nodded, his arms still behind his back. Of course he remembered not to tell them that it was Gaara who went after the "assailant" on his own, he didn't quite trust two-thirds of this particular council to mention that.

Homura looked unimpressed, "And what of it? Was the Kazekage injured, is he still alive? And since you saw him, who exactly is this assailant, can you properly identify him?

Tsunade cut in, "Ah, now that brings us to my true reason for this rushed meeting, Shikamaru show them what's behind your back." Her gaze became fiery in an instant as Shikamaru pulled out a thick manila folder labeled "Classified". Taking the folder from Shikamaru and handing it to Sarutobi, she said, "Shikamaru as an eye-witness, claims that it was this boy who attacked Gaara."

The former Hokage opened the folder.

His lips began to tremble, his eyes widening, his breathing at once hastened to match the sudden rapidity of his chest. He glared at Tsunade over the rim of the folder. "Tsunade...you had better not be playing with me, because this is not possible."

"Wha-...what is it?" Koharu asked, "Let me see the file." Sarutobi listlessly handed her the folder and upon gazing at its contents she scoffed arrogantly. "This_ is_ impossible, as Sarutobi has said. This boy died two and a half years ago after going rogue."

Homura seemed to sense where this was going, "Surely she cannot mean-"

Tsunade's terrible clamor cut him off; she had stomped her heel into the floor. She pointed directly at Sarutobi, "Enough with the lies sensei! Can you honestly sit by as these two selfishly cover up this boy's existence, this same boy who I know you've cared for? Sensei... I realized that this council has been hiding this from me, Shikamaru's claim only verifies it: Uzumaki Naruto is still alive and well. And after all these years, he has finally decided to show himself. He attacked the Kazekage for Kami's sake, the same person he defeated during the Chuunin exams three years ago in order to save _this_ village. I don't know this child at all, as he supposedly went rogue before I became Hokage, but I do know that as Hokage I cannot possibly sit by and ignore a possible threat to our village. He got into the Sand without a problem, he may be able to do it here. He certainly has the proper motive."

After her long-winded speech Tsunade waited for her sensei's response. He simply gazed at the ground, his eyes and lips shaking, to shocked to say anything. Finally he did.

"N-Naruto..would never do some like that, the...the...Naruto I knew wouldn't have-"

"But he's not the Naruto you knew anymore," Shikamaru said, drawing in Sarutobi's attention. "I've seen it with my own eyes... he's much...much different, he has changed. He's much more sadistic, and equally skilled. You saw what he did to Uchiha Sasuke three years ago when he tried to defect from Konoha didn't you? That was three years ago and three years ago his file was cut off," he snapped his fingers, " just like that... Now he has resurfaced, I'm begging you, we should pay attention to this."

"Silence! Nara Shikamaru, nobody addressed you, you're not within the proper rank to speak out of turn in front of this council. Keep your mouth shut or you will be demoted! Uzumaki Naruto is dead, he has nothing to do with this village anymore, it was his choice to leave and his choice to die!"

Sarutobi inhaled sharply, turning his newly formed glare to Homura. "Tsunade is right, no more of these lies... It was you who tried to turn him into a weapon, you and her. Not me, I won't do this. Naruto left because he wanted to preserve his humanity, he was aware of what becoming your soldier would entail, that is why he left. He did not leave us...we chased him out."

Sarutobi stood up from his seat, he glanced at Tsunade, noting her wide smile. "Come Tsunade, we have much to speak of, we shall get to the bottom of this at once."

"Thank you sensei" Tsunade said, bowing to him, Shikamaru mirrored her smile and action as well.

"Koharu, Homura, my precious teammates, you were once in a position of influence above me, but we now stand on equal grounds, if you respect me do not stop me. I am already dead set on solving this myself."

Once again Koharu scoffed, "Do what you must you old fool, getting involved with him will get us into huge trouble. But if you so please, pursue him, just don't let your attachment to the boy obscure your judgment if you manage to find him."

With that he left the room along with Tsunade and Shikamaru.

The tension hanging in the air was only alleviated once they left the council hall. Konoha's bustling streets could always calm a person. However the tension was brought back to life the instant the trio set foot onto the streets. It came back in the form of a familiar brunette holding a pig.

"Lady Tsunade!," Shizune yelled out, as she sprinted toward them, forcing her way through a uniform cloud of people. Tonton, Tsunade's pet pig had to have been suffocating in Shizune's killer grip, her stubby legs wiggled cutely back and forth as she protested for her release, whining: "Puhi puhiiiii!"

"Sorry," Shizune said, placing Tonton on the ground, who immediately began circling Tsunade's legs.

"Is there a problem, Shizune-san?" Sarutobi asked.

After a quick breather, Shizune stood up straight. "The Kazekage has been kidnapped!" She said firmly.

XXXXXXXXX

"What, THE Kazekage's been kidnapped?"

"Oh yeah, I got word from some sand merchants I did business with yesterday. They seemed so depressed, it must be harsh not having your leader around, especially one a strong as a Kage."

Naruto cupped his chin thoughtfully and leaned back in his chair. Gaara of all people had been captured, even after he'd placed the seal on him? It didn't add up, that seal should have made him bloodthirsty, he _should_ have been hearing about Gaara's violent rampage through his own village, not his pitiful kidnapping, yet here he was, listening to this ramen shop owner ramble on about how Gaara valiantly sacrificed himself to protect his village.

"Yeah," Naruto agreed, "luckily we don't do that over here, all we've got is a Feudal Lord, and he's miles away. But hey...uh... did that sand merchant tell you anything about the guys who took the Kazekage...like what they looked like?"

There was a steaming hot bowl of ramen in front of him, but he hadn't touched it yet, he was far too engrossed into the conversation. The ramen shop owner, Iori was his name, folded his arms across his chest, looking blankly at the ceiling of his ramen shop. "Um...no not really, the guy I spoke with had no clue about who actually took the Kazekage."

"Hm...I see," Naruto responded.

"Oh wait!"

"Yes?"

"He did tell me about some rumors about what happened that night, apparently the guy the Kazekage was fighting was wearing a cloak..."

Naruto stared at him blankly. "..." He said.

"Heh, I guess that doesn't really help at all," Iori said.

Naruto raised his brow, "Ya think? But that's okay... I don't really need to know about it, it just sounded cool, that's all. Anyways, thanks for the meal Iori-san!"

The shop-owner looked down at the bowl in front of him, "B-but you haven't even touched your food..."

Naruto was already walking toward the exit, "Uhh, I wasn't hungry anyway!" He gave him a smile and a wave. "Yugito-san, let's go!"

Yugito popped out from underneath one of the tables, scaring an old couple, a wide-eyed look on her face.

"Nya?" She asked, holding Iori's pet cat close to her bosom, it purred comfortably. "Aww...we're leaving, but I don't want to..."

Naruto stopped by the exit and gave her a look, a certain flash of the eyes that nobody else but them was aware of. She immediately placed Iori's cat down on the floor, patted its head and hurried quickly to Naruto's side where she gave a quick bow before leaving the restaurant with him.

Once outside Yugito scoffed, "You know I really don't like this innocent act." They turned onto the main market district that led toward hills, Naruto's home was close by, lying comfortably at a reasonable altitude that overlooked the city.

"I know you don't but we're way to close to my Konoha to have people know that we're ninja, this town isn't supposed to have _any_ ninja, its main purpose is trade."

He got an earful of Yugito's grumbling. "Oh whatever then," she said, "What the hell's next anyway?" Naruto stopped walking, standing still in the flow of people walking by, Yugito mirrored him. "Why'd you-"

"We're going to Suna," he interrupted abruptly. "I think I have a hunch as to who took him," he sighed, "I only wish they hadn't popped up now."

Yugito blinked rapidly, arching her brow, "Huh...who?"

Naruto's expression stilled and an uncomfortable breeze blew in from the west; she could barely hear him speak due to the crowd's uniform murmur. "Akatsuki..." He said.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Kakashi ran at the head of the group, his eyes were stolid with determination while at the same time he regretted every step. He wanted to turn around and head back. He could feel the hairs on the back of his neck already begin to erect themselves. While he ran, he thought deeply about the words Tsunade gave him before he left the village, after _everyone_ had been briefed and left her office.

_"I know that he was your former student_," _Tsunade said_. _He simply nodded at the statement, swatting it away like nothing._

He knew what he might be running into when he chose to accept this mission, he'd matured too much as a shinobi however to let his emotions get in the away. But he wasn't the problem, the one running behind him was who he was most concerned about. If _she_ had been told what he had been told, she most surely would have declined this mission. If _she_ knew that they were quite possibly running into a reunion, it would have deemed her as emotionally unfit_, she _would have sat this mission out, leaving him to go on by himself.

...But this mission was too precious to have just one man, regardless of his legendary fame, go by himself. By why this team, Team 7, the incomplete cell? Why not send in Guy's team first, not his, he was in no rush to meet his old student. Of course they weren't going in response to Gaara's kidnapping, no, they were sent to tend to his older brother, Kankuro. He'd been damaged while battling, poisoned by a toxin that sand had never seen.

_"Regardless of what you say, I have deemed you as the best option for the leading team," Tsunade said. _

Kakashi sighed, that woman thought in bizarre ways. He cast a quick glance back at his teammate. Sakura was deep in thought; entirely, she was the reason that they had been sent out first, because she was the medic nin, one of the best in fact. It made sense after all to send the apprentice of Tsunade herself. But even so... it wasn't right.

Kakashi bit his lip, couldn't he just tell her? Unexpectedly his lips began to move and he stopped abruptly on a thick tree branch. Behind him Sakura mirrored his action, blinking once, before stopping next to him on that same branch. "Uh...Kakashi-sensei why did you-"

Kakashi cut her off, "-just be on guard during this mission alright?"

"O-okay?" With that they resumed flying through the trees. Kakashi could already begin to see the dense greenery dwindle away, it served as its own indicator; they were getting close to Suna.

XXXXXXXXXXX

The air had become moist, saturated actually. It was humid and sticky and Naruto's clothes clung to his skin like tape, he peeled his shirt off his chest slowly just to have it snap back onto this skin in a rubber-band like motion. They had left Gunraku yesterday with one goal in mind, retrieve their kin. Gaara's presence was wispy and linear, almost like a trail of scent leading them to his position. They followed Gaara's trail of presence vigorously, without stopping until they reach their destination. Of course they should have been exhausted, but having an extra set of chakra to call upon when yours didn't cut it was helpful too.

Naruto took a few steps out onto the water, below his feet it was dark and muddy; he couldn't see down toward the bottom. Yugito hunched over on her knees. She was more tired then he was, but of course she used less of her beast's chakra and more of her own to get here. She apparently didn't like the hindrance his seal placed on her whenever she used the Nibi's power. It led Naruto to believe that running through the dessert while horny wasn't too pleasant.

"Hey," she huffed, "How did you even find this place?"

Naruto's face was steeled as he spoke to her, "The same way you found me, your seal."

She raised her head, "Wait, so this Gaara guy is a Jinchuuriki?"

"Yeah."

"And he's the Kazekage too?"

Naruto nodded.

"Cool," Yugito said. She looked up and gazed at the humongous boulder, resting in the mouth of an even bigger cavern. Giant red gates framed the boulder perfectly, it looked more to be like a portal to hell. Yep, this was definitely the Akatsuki's hideout, and even if it wasn't, this was where Gaara was. "So, how are we gonna get in?"

Naruto gave her a quick 'are you serious' look, that his words soon matched. "Are you serious?" He said. Naruto threw his hands up in the air, "We're gonna bust in!" He pointed at the giant boulder at the mouth of the cave. "See, it's just a big rock, let's just slam through it."

Yugito shook her head, she simply couldn't understand it, why was he smiling? You couldn't just approached the Akatsuki-repeat-_Akatsuki_ like that! "How can you be so nonchalant, are you an idiot?" She paused and considered the possibility and said, "you know, you shouldn't answer that question."

"Look, I know what I'm doing!"

"Well did you realize that there was a seal so obviously placed on that boulder?"

Naruto squinted like a senior citizen trying to read the world's smallest book and scoffed, "Well of course I did. I'm not an idiot you know." Sadly, Yugito took that as code for: "I'm an idiot you know".

"Oh...I see what they're trying to do," Naruto continued," It's obvious that this seal is a distraction."

Yugito blinked, "And how can you tell?" She folded her arms over her bosom, something that Naruto didn't mind eying as she did so.

"You just said it; look at just how obviously placed it is on that boulder, that seal won't kill us, really fatal seals are masterfully hidden. _That_ one," Naruto pointed, "isn't fatal... it's a trigger to what most likely is a diversion tactic. They're trying to buy time for something..."

"Well," Yugito began, her now slitted eyes glazing over to a deep, fiery blue, "Let's not give them that time." Her razor sharp tone, along with the sight of her two blade-like canines, instilled something close to arousal in Naruto. Not the norm though, he, like her, was lusting for a battle. Yugito's erotic scent had him raring to go, he could smell her, them actually. The mix between her two-tailed chakra and her own natural libido, it was bit... intoxicating. No that was wasn't it; stimulating was a better word. It fit the scenario much better.

Naruto's eyes flared red as well, bleeding into a dark crimson. He smiled a toothy smile. "Yeah...lets." Naruto replied.

"So what's the plan?" She asked, getting into a low crouch.

Naruto did something similar, except he got onto all fours, like an animal. "Simple, what any extremely powerful pair of jinchuuriki would do: smash right through it."

Yugito looked at the boulder then at Naruto; he wore a crazed expression on; she then turned back to the boulder. "Good plan," she said.

Then the heat hit them both, it was thrown over them like a veil of crazed temperature. Naruto closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, feeling the new, more dangerous chakra begin to flow. With the new flow of chakra, Yugito's knees drew closer to each other, barely exposing the effects that Naruto's seal had on her. Truly she would enjoy whatever was about to happen, the two tattooed on her neck would ensure it. For some reason she felt...good. All squirmy inside, fuzzy. Perhaps Naruto's seal wasn't so bad after all, it _did_ give her what she'd always wanted to instill in herself since she began using Nibi's chakra: true pleasure during battle.

"Ready?"

"Ready," she replied panting. And just as she was about to lunge Naruto grabbed her by the wrist.

"Wait!"

"What?" She said, seething through her nose.

"Let's hide..."

XXXXXXXXX

"Sakura, now!" Kakashi yelled throwing himself of the boulder.

Sakura charged, releasing a mighty yell, then cocked her fist back, preparing to slam into the boulder with all of her might. Her entire fist glowed blue for a second saturated with the earth-shattering chakra she'd diligently cultivated. A second later her fist blew into the body of the boulder, sending a wave of shock throughout. It wobbled a bit before slowly crumbling down into the water, revealing the gaping mouth of the cave. The rocks tumbling into the water had struck up a low roar, almost like a distant waterfall.

"Hold it!" Kakashi commanded, quickly moving to her side. "Don't move," he said.

Sakura froze immediately. "What's wrong?" Kakashi turned her head with a point at the entrance of the cave, where two shaded figures stood. They were obscured by the dust that had kicked up from Sakura's punch, but could both be clearly seen as a male and female. Sakura squinted for definition, were they Akatsuki? They did look a bit smallish, almost as if they were kids themselves.

Then one of them, the male, opened his eyes. They glowed a vibrant red that pierced though the pother of smoke; he had a sharp-slitted gaze with a lancing effect. This man, or possibly kid's voice was even sharper than his eyes, and if she recalled, oh so familiar.

"Sakura-chan long time no see."

Sakura froze, her lower lip quivered violently, her mouth agape like a fish's. "Oh my...is that-"

To answer, Naruto walked out of the dust, his eyes shimmering a bright blue as he smiled. "You'd better believe it." He said. Sakura almost fell to her knees.

How? How in the hell was this happening? Naruto, _Naruto_ was here! After almost three and a half years, after he'd died, _supposedly, _he just showed up here out of the blue? There was no possible way this was happening, she looked desperately at Kakashi. His countenance was strained, like he was holding something back.

"No...no it can't be you, you _can't_ be alive... you died!" Sakura yelled.

Naruto paused then laughed, throwing his head back. "Ha! Me...I died? Impossible Sakura, I never died...never... I'm very much alive as you can see. You know you shouldn't believe _everything_ that your higher-ups tell you."

Then the second shade emerged from the dust, walking out with an erotic sway that caught everyone's attention. Her eyes were a dark onyx, and her face, very petite and fair, was framed by golden locks of hair that were even lighter than Naruto's. She taped Naruto on the shoulder, "You know them?"

Naruto nodded, "Not the old lady, but the two on the sides used to be my teammate and sensei."

"One hell of a reunion," she chimed.

"Sort of, they're missing one," he looked back to Sakura, "Hey where's Sasuke?"

Sakura flinched, Naruto caught it. "He's gone," she said suddenly.

Naruto lifted his brow, "As in...dead?"

"As in: like you," Kakashi corrected. Naruto knew exactly what he meant, but Kakashi couldn't have been more wrong. _Everyone _thought that he was dead, some claimed that he was rogue, but nobody really knew just exactly what Naruto was. But of course Kakashi's statement meant that Sasuke wasn't in Konoha anymore. Such a sad thing, it seemed that all of his efforts had gone to waste. Sasuke was the catalyst that set the rest of his life in motion; because of him, Naruto was labeled as dangerous, as a weapon, therefore he was forced to run away. And what was this now that he heard?

How ironic that both he and Sasuke ended up in the same melting pot, running for their lives, from their homes. Karma was a consistent bitch wasn't she?

Kakashi continued, "Naruto...even though it's like this...it's good to see you." Naruto didn't answer. rather he stared down his old sensei, with a bored expression, as if he'd spotted a lie. Something had changed within his gaze, there was no more green innocence behind is ears, so there was no use playing this ruse any longer than he had to.

Kakashi's hand crackled to life with electricity. Sakura gasped and looked at him with confusion-filled eyes as he crouched down low, exciting the water with his hand's charge. "It's nice seeing you... but I have orders as to what I should do if I come into contact with you."

With that, Kakashi made a straight dash for Naruto, who oddly enough looked calm through it all. Water and ruble were thrown to the side as Kakashi closed the distance between them, Naruto's face became clearly defined as the light from his attack illuminated his face. Then Naruto did the totally unexpected.

He smiled, he seemed to re-opened his eyes, reinvigorating them with a violent red light. His smile was fanged, as was the female's he was with; her eyes had gone a very deep blue now. In a split second, Kakashi had come to realize just who it was standing by Naruto. That was none other than the missing girl herself... Nii Yugito.

Kakashi closed in for the kill, a second hand coursing with the dangerous electricity now. He would only impale Naruto, he couldn't afford to kill the Jinchuuriki of his village's enemy.

"Katsu..."

A large, paper-white centipede erupted form the ground between them. It wriggled madly releasing a bright glow, it then exploded. The shock wave had blown Kakashi back into the water, and no sooner than a nanosecond was Sakura there puling him up.

Naruto and Yugito however had been blown back into the Akatsuki's cavern. It didn't take long for them to recover either, they were on their feet in seconds, and facing something to which they had been ill-prepared to see, but nonetheless it worked in their favor. This had been a rescue mission, but it seemed that there would be no rescuing needed.

High above the heads of two red cloud-cloaked figures, one blond and the other sporting some sort of petrified spiky-haired look, stood a perfect sphere of the dark, chakra imbued sand. Directly above the sphere was a single large eye that stared directly at Naruto, more like only Naruto. Naruto had seen this before, Gaara's ultimate defense, this time it was much more foreboding. There was a different Gaara in there.

"Would you look at that... three for the price of one." The blond Akatsuki member said. He had his hair done in a very, if he remembered, Ino-like fashion. I swear you jinchuuriki are as unpredictable as ever, here I was thinking that I had taken this guy out," he pointed to Gaara's sphere, "when all along he was planning this. It doesn't make that much sense to me though, all he's doing here is waiting for his death, unless..." his eyes trailed off, "he was _waiting_ for you two to show up"

Naruto's palm, exactly where Gaara's seal was, burned ferociously disorientating him quite a bit and he had only become vaguely aware that Kakashi, Sakura, and that old lady had entered the cave. "I'm sure he knew we would come...Deidara."

The man now known as Deidara widened his eyes, at the same time his face constricted tightly. "How di-" he then looked up at Gaara's sphere, "-you're communicating with him?"

Naruto didn't answer back.

Yugito was surprised, she didn't know anything like that could happen. _Exactly how complex was Naruto's seal?_

"Very," Naruto said, bringing up the unclear implication that he could read her mind. It was actually a bit scary. To think that copyright on the back of her neck was much more useful than she'd thought, it wasn't just decorative... it was a linkage. She then brought back the memory of how she found Naruto's house after he'd bitten and left her to find him, how she somehow _felt_ that he was in a certain direction, and because of it, how she knew where to go. Was that was he was doing now?

The short, disfigured one with the spiky hair let out a raspy chuckle. "How interesting, a linkage between Jinchuuriki?" His tail flicked up, now attentive, arched over his head, much like a scorpion's.

Kakashi tensed, what did he just say?

Naruto fell to his hands knees, as did Yugito except she turned to face Kakashi's group. The both of them let out a feral growl from the pits of the throats. They seemed, more like animals now, hostile, on edge, much more instinct driven. The hunch-back's tail struck out with ferocious speed. And like that, before Kakashi could lift up his headband both Naruto and Yugito disappeared. The tail which belonged to Sasori, whom Chiyo had identified, crashed into the spot where Naruto and Yugito had been. It scraped its body along the ground before shooting back up and heading straight for Sakura.

Kakashi's now exposed Sharingan spun wildly, clearly discerning Naruto and Yugito's body zipping, more like crawling, all along the walls of the cavern at incredible speeds. It also saw Sasori's tail heading for his student. It wasn't long before Chiyo was in front of her though, the old lady held her arms out wide, as if gesturing for a hug. Swiftly, she spun to her left, a wild pirouette, just barely dodging and at the same time, kicked Sakura to the side, forcing her to dodge as well.

The tail, seemed to lose interest in them and turned on Kakashi, rushing him like a serpent. He attempted to roll out of the way, but the tail undulated its body in such a serpentine fashion that it twisted and coiled its thickly armored body around his ankle and flung him across the width of the cave. The good thing about having his sharingan was that even in situations like this, during his uncontrolled aerial tumble where his vision was disoriented, he was still able to keep track of everyone in the room. The blond-haired...Deidara still hadn't moved yet.

More importantly, he could still see Naruto and Yugito running along the cave's innards, switching positions every two to three milliseconds. Naruto gradually got closer to him, then closer, then faster, until he was so close that he could see the whites of Naruto's...claws... making a reach for his face. Naruto literally crashed into his already moving body, as a result they sort of canceled each other out, simply stopping abruptly in the air before free-falling to the ground with Naruto landing on top. He used his right hand to pin Kakashi down, his knees to lock the harsh straddle. With a flick of his wrist, the hidden blade in his sleeve jutted out, and he prepared to strike.

Directly above them, Sakura was high the air, fist raised, bellowing from her lungs another amazonian battle-cry. It seemed that she had finally found a use for that abrasive voice of hers, but of course that could have always be turned into a weakness. It seemed like the entire world had forgotten about his partner, no, not the nine-tails... the blond female.

Like an arrow plucking a plump bird from the air, Yugito smashed herself into Sakura, much like Naruto had done to Kakashi. And her claws connected. Naruto wasn't even looking, but he could tell that Sakura was no longer above him.

Naruto smiled, his full attention back on his sensei. He sniffed the air twice. "You smell that... smells like Sakura's blood."

Kakashi grimaced. "Naruto... what's happened to you?"

Naruto straightened his face, releasing his maniac smile, replacing it with a duller visage. How many times would be asked this, hopefully not every time he met with someone from Konoha. "Nothing Kakashi... nothing, I've matured." And at that moment, directly behind Naruto, Kakashi could see Sakura fly in and then out of his view as she crashed to the floor and didn't move.

The girl he now knew as Yugito landed beside him. Her eyes were a deep glowing blue, she spared Kakashi a glance before turning to Naruto. "We gotta go."

Naruto pondered it for a moment, "I supposed you're right," he said, but stopped short as he noticed the pair of hands grabbing them both by the ankles. "Shit!" They both said as their bodies were forced underneath the ground, leaving only their heads exposed. The Kakashi that Naruto had thought he was on simply poofed away in a dispersion of smoke, the real Kakashi then revealed himself, popping out in front of them in a low squat.

He pulled his headband down for a moment and when it came back up, his sharingan had changed looking much more elaborate, much more kaleidoscopic. "M-mangekyou?..." Naruto muttered before both of their heads fell limp.

With that, Kakashi made somewhat of a retracting motion with his head and erected himself.

Chiyo and Sasori seemed to be locked in a staring contest of sorts. She had good reason for it, to see her grandson operating on such a low-level. It must have been hard, almost exactly like what he felt when he saw Naruto.

But there were no time for such thoughts...only action.

Kakashi's hands moved with blazing speed, he ended on tiger and puffed his chest out; he could feel the fire swelling in his stomach, the fiery chakra coursing from his fingertips to his hands. As he reared his head back to release the flames the flow of chakra suddenly ended. A wave of malevolent chakra washed over him like seawater on the shore. His neck almost broke as he swung himself around, staring wide-eyed at the ball of sand that protected Gaara. Above it... the once normal eye had changed.

Where a normal pupil should have been, there was a black star with four dots surrounding it in a square pattern. The cool teal of irises morphed to a dark brown and the eye could not stop itself from rampantly looking all over the place. As if it was crazy...

But even worse...both Naruto and Yugito were standing on top of the dark ball of sand and their eyes glowed like hot coals.

Quickly Kakashi made a double take at the hole that he had thought he buried them both in, as he expected nothing was there. Naruto really had gotten better; in any other situation he would have been proud. Even now he wished, faintly, to give Naruto that same old thumbs up he always had whenever he showed an improvement.

Naruto's voice drew him out of his daze, it was cool and controlled. "It's cool being us, you know, having beasts to pull you from a genjutsu and all. And speaking of beasts," he patted Gaara's sphere while pointing at the eye, "looks like this one is ready to come out." As if on command, the sphere began to crack, the eye above moved even more rapidly then before. The cracks spread throughout the front of the sphere in a web like pattern, the eye then stopped moving...And Gaara burst through the cracks in a ghastly form that caused just about everything to stand still.

His lower body was fine, but going up further to his wait, his upper body was seemingly engulfed in some brown mass that looked disturbingly similar to flesh. There was purple licks of color along surface of his new "skin". With an elongated tanuki face, Gaara snarled with a maw lined with diamond hard teeth. The other two jinchuuriki had taken positions behind him.

Deidara raised his brow, deciding that _now_ was the time to take action. Honestly what was this? _Three_ active jinchuuriki, what insane man went up against that? He could tell by the shock on the sharingan user's face that he was thinking the same. A choice would need to be made, there was absolutely no way that he and Sasori could take those three brats on by themselves and defend against the other three. However, where he and Sasori were at a disadvantage so were they, neither side could take on three jinchuuriki and neither side would fight alongside one another.

So the only option was...

Deidara quickly made a tiger seal; directly above the jinchuuriki a rain of white spiders poured down heavily. "Katsu!" One by one they each exploded in a myriad of flashes, creating a pother of smoke and dust. Deidara exchanged quick glances with Sasori, the memo had already been passed. He jumped and underneath him, a large unnaturally white owl exploded into existence and with three giant flaps, he was airborne. "Sorry children, perhaps another time." The owl made a quick turn around and was outside of the cave in seconds. Bursting through the cloud like a bullet, Kakashi followed.

The blasts did nothing, the jinchuuriki still stood. Naruto had his hand on Gaara's massive shoulder. "Gaara listen to me... we need to leave!" He yelled. Gaara, in his semi-transformed state, showed no signs of ever hearing Naruto. He simply dug his claws into the ground and charged out of the cave as well, Naruto and Yugito had no choice but to follow.

When the smoke fully cleared Sasori the only enemy left, his beady little eyes staring daggers at Chiyo.

"Sasori..."

"Chiyo..."

Sakura was just getting up, wiping blood from her lips. That blond girl had gotten her good, despite it being a blindside, she still got her. She wasn't really sure what happened to everyone else but nonetheless her gaze was averted instantly to the stare-down happening between Sasori and Chiyo. She rushed to Chiyo's side, sensing the dangerous sparks flying, "Lady Chiyo, I'm here!"

"Good," Chiyo replied, "...I'll need you."

XXXXXXXXXX

Naruto sat on tree branch, one leg raised up to his chin, his eyes were blue. Yugito sat next to him, fiddling with her hair. The Nibi's residual chakra still had her legs buzzing, so to keep her mind off of it, she swung her feet gently. Every now and then she would cast Naruto a quick glance and every time she would see that smile of his. His eyes were plastered on Gaara's hulking form, stricken with a fresh touch of awe. It was amazing, the things that he could smile at.

Of course she could smile at it too but that wasn't the point.

Gaara was rampaging, sort of. She actually thought it looked more like violent venting, but it was destruction nonetheless. Every time Gaara destroyed a tree, Naruto would mutter "wow"; every time he sent a wave of sand surging, he would say "amazing" and his smile would get wider. Each swipe of Gaara's bestial paws left a scar gouged into the ground. For hours now this guy was tearing away at the forest, roaring, ripping, and sending wave after wave of sand without restraint.

"_This_ guy is a Kage?"

Naruto turned to her quicker than a startled owl, he scrunched his brows sternly. "Of course he is, don't sound like that!"

She shrugged, "Just saying, he seems a bit pathetic."

Whether it was from Yugito's comment or not, Gaara suddenly stopped rampaging. From their perch in the tree they could see his broad shoulders move up and down with his heavy breathing.

Naruto cupped his hands around his mouth, "You feel better buddy?" He yelled.

Gaara turned to him swiftly like a tiger and roared, they could feel the wind whip their hair back.

"No then? Cool, cool, I'll wait." He replied.

Yugito laughed, "Wuss," she said.

"Hag," he shot back.

"Girly-man."

"Tomboy."

Yugito gasped, covering her mouth with her hand. "You don't mean that!"

Naruto crossed his arms and turned the other way. "Yeah I do." He was then roughly shoved out of the tree, landing hard on his ass. "Ow, fuck!" He stood up, rubbing his ass. "That was such a tomboyish move." The comment only made Yugito's face tomato red with anger.

"Naruto!" Gaara's voice boomed. As Naruto turned he could see Gaara's giant form stalking towards him, but as he walked his upper body slowly lost its definition and the brown flesh engulfing it fell down to the ground as dark brown sand, revealing the normal Gaara in his normal attire. Of course this made Naruto happy, now he could actually have a conversation with the guy, but on the other hand that meant no more destructive entertainment.

"_Now_ do you feel better?" Gaara didn't respond at all to Naruto's question, he just kept walking towards him. "Okay then, how _do_ you feel?"

When Gaara was only a foot away he grabbed Naruto by the throat. "Tell me what you did, or else I will kill you." He said in that low chilling killer's voice he'd perfected. The sand that fell from his body swirled around Naruto now. "This time I will give you no chances, speak."

"H-hey look I know you're angry bu-"

"SPEAK!"

Naruto sighed, "You're right, sorry," he stared at Yugito until she got the hint and approached them, although she did stay a few yards away from them. Gaara _was_ volatile right now. "Yugito meet Gaara, Gaara meet Yugito. Introductions over? Okay then, guess I've got some explaining to do now huh?

* * *

><p>Alrighty then, second chapter finished. I hope everyone liked it. Um tell me what you think about the fight scenes so far, I've been wondering if I did a good job. Any feedback is fine: if they were fluid, if they weren't fluid enough, anything will help me out. Remember, I write for you guys...and me... but you know what I mean. I care about the readers.<p>

Oh and one other thing, tell me what you guys think about the relationship between Naruto and Yugito. If you can give me a phrase that you think can best describe it.

Now Naruto's great plan! OOOOHHHHHH, I'll let you in on a little secret as to what it is...

...in the next chapter!

So keep reading! Yay!

Latrz- Grim...


	3. Foxhole

You know...I actually like this story, I don't know what but there is something nice about it. I hope you guys like it too...YOU BETTER LIKE IT! Haha but seriously people, tell me what you think, good...bad? Are you drawn in or not? Questions, questions, help me answer them.

And just to let people know, I will try to update this story on the thirteenth of every month.

I don't want to waste time so without further ado...

oh and this chapter is short. So Yeah...

* * *

><p>MindPlay<p>

Puppets, dozens of them... a hundred or so garbed in tattered, splintered cloaks. Nothing made of wood or metal in this aftermath went un-smashed, Sakura made sure of it. It was a bit unsettling to see though, how much these counterfeit human dolls actually _looked—_at least in death—like humans. Had they been real, Sakura might not have been able to even look at this aftermath. It was on par to watching a post massacre scene, minus the blood and foul odor of death.

She lay on her back, while—she hadn't realized until now—Chiyo knelt over her body. The poison had a very quick effect, her legs had gone almost completely numb, she was tired, more exhausted than she should have been. It was painful, very painful, but the only thing she could do to cope with it was grit her teeth and endure.

But when Chiyo placed her warm glowing hands over her shaky chest, it all became better. The warmth had spread throughout. "Relax," Chiyo said pushing her back down when she tried to sit up.

But how could she? Not after she realized just exactly what Chiyo was doing! It was akin to killing herself! "But," Sakura protested.

"I said relax," Chiyo commanded before hacking a terrible cough, "I do this because I want to."

Sakura sighed and glanced over at Sasori's dead body, the twin blades of his 'parents' jammed straight through his 'heart'. It was sad; it almost looked to her as if they were embracing him. Their eyes were closed shut in a lovely fashion in contrast to Sasori's dead stare. That was the grandson who Chiyo had lived for and now it seemed appropriate to let her throw herself away. Sasori was dead so Chiyo no longer felt the need to live

If what Sasori said was true then she would see the bastard who lured Sasuke away real soon. They would be meeting Orochimaru on Tenchi Bridge.

But now was not the time to ponder such troublesome things. As the last of the pins and needles in her legs dissipated, she forced herself up, letting Chiyo know that she was well enough to walk. She hugged her knees and thought about the events that had passed in the last few hours, Gaara, the Akatsuki, Naruto and that girl…

There was something that Konoha wasn't explaining.

Somewhere hidden in a little corner of the cave, Sakura could have sworn she heard the faint sound of a clone 'poofing' away but she shook it off, it was probably nothing.  
>XXXXX<p>

Naruto winced harshly, an image of Sakura and that old lady on a cave floor littered with hundreds of crushed puppets bloomed vividly in his mind. And next to them, the red-haired Akatsuki member, Sasori, knelt in between two puppets impaling him with their blades.

It took a moment to shake it off but he finally brought his attention to the two in front of him.

Yugito stared cautiously at Naruto, but even more so at Gaara. Her anxiety began to build when neither of them said a word. She awkwardly tried to start, but Gaara silenced her before she even began with a glare from one of his almond shaped eyes. Talk about authority, he certainly had all the bearings of a Kage, that aura of his alone was enough to make her submissive, on an even higher level than Naruto could. Yet, even with his presence being as strong as it was, Naruto still seemed to have the upper hand in the ordeal.

While at the same time angry, Gaara's expression was flecked with a blotch of confusion. Truth be told, he had not the slightest clue of what the hell was going on, and when she thought about it… neither did she. Yugito arched her eyebrows in a frown as something connected; it was about time she got the full story. She turned her gaze at Naruto, crossing her arms as if to say 'we're waiting'.

Naruto gave one sigh before speaking. "I've got some explaining to do, don't I?" They did not respond; he expected that much at least. But was it supposed to be _this_ effective? Should he have felt _this_ nervous about it?

"Like I told you before I…want….I want to get back at my village." He said. Gaara got angrier, it made Naruto smile, that's what he liked to see, the good old Gaara.

"So that's all that this is about, revenge, is it really that petty?" Gaara's sand rushed up all the way to Naruto's neck, lifting him a few feet. Naruto coughed and struggled to breathe as the granular weapon tightened around his neck. Yugito instinctively took a few steps back.

"No!" Naruto yelled back. He wheezed for breath once more. "Not just for me, but for you too! Don't you see Gaara? We are simply weapons, guarded and stored for use whenever necessary… How do you even think I got here man? They wanted to use me, just like they _tried_ to use you! But you're a Kage now man, a fucking Kage! You knew I was alive… you _knew_! Why didn't you try to look for me, why didn't you save me, tell me why I shouldn't want to get back at the leaf!"

Gaara then seemed to be suddenly calm, he closed his eyes and his sand immediately released its grip on Naruto, bringing him softly to his feet where Gaara rested a hand on his shoulder. He looked at him with a steely gaze.

"Naruto," Gaara began. "I thought of you every single day, but I couldn't look for you, I wasn't allowed to."

Naruto then grit his teeth and he locked eyes with Gaara. "Aren't you angry about that, angry about how even someone with your kind of power, still can't a thing about what happens to us jinchuuriki? Come on, just give me a chance, I'll explain everything to you, I'm not the bad guy, they are. We're the victims." He then brought his gaze to Yugito, thinning his gaze, and nodded his head. "What about you, Yugito, what do you think of all this? Am I worth it?"

Now both Gaara and Naruto looked at her, their steely gazes like cold metal against her skin. Finally after a loud sigh, she folded her arms and said, "Look, all I want is to know two things: what exactly do you want from us… and what exactly did your village do to you?"  
>XXXXXXX<p>

Yugito ran down the muddy route back toward the Cloud village with an almost expressionless look on her face. That's just what she looked like when she thinking, stagnant and unemotional. But this time, the blank expression seemed to be the result of something else. Just what type of people were the Leaf higher-ups? What Naruto told her wasn't too outrageous, but the speed and reasoning behind it frustrated her nonetheless. One moment he was relaxing at home, and the next he was leaving the village with a bounty on his head, and why?

All because he refused to comply and become a weapon. He wanted to preserve what little humanity his village gave him. But for jinchuuriki like them, that was a crime.

And now that she thought about it, she had at one point been treated like Naruto, she had felt the sting of the village eyes, but the nonetheless her out come was much different. She felt like she needed to reassess the legitimacy of her own village, maybe Cloud village higher-ups were like this too. Maybe all higher-ups where like this. So then were was the legitimacy? Where had it gone? Were there any honest men in the ninja world?

She paused and doubted it.

Whatever, it was too much to handle right now. Naruto had already won her over to his side anyway, even if his 'great plan' was a bust, she was looking to stir up a little anarchy anyway. Whatever the outcome, she was on board.  
>XXXXXXXXX<p>

Tsunade walked into Kakashi's room with Sakura at her side, the girl had healed pretty well thanks to Chiyo. However the same couldn't be said for Kakashi; repeated use of the Mangekyou Sharingan must have put a tremendous amount of physical strain on the body, but even she couldn't figure out a direct way to relieve the user of that strain.

Rest was the best option.

"Guess I overdid it huh?" Kakashi said rubbing the back of his head, an old habit of his: she always wondered where he had picked it up. He smiled weakly at her.

"Yeah you did, you've gotta' really work on controlling that new eye of yours, I don't want to see you in here after every mission." Tsunade said.

This time Kakashi gave her a small chuckle, and then the tone of things took a more serious turn. He steeled his gaze, propping himself, clad in his flimsy hospital gown, upright.

The door to the room opened and Shikamaru walked in holding a folder, a small ink stamp on it said 'classified'.

"Kakashi-sensei, give me the news, Sakura already told us about your encounter with..."he paused. "You know," he said awkwardly. Kakashi only nodded knowingly. "Now are you sure that… Naruto was with who you say he was with?"

He plucked out a photo from the folder and tossed it to Kakashi. After a moment of inspection Kakashi looked up. "Yeah, this is most definitely her; Nii Yugito was definitely with Naruto."

"Then this is extremely serious," Tsunade interjected. "This Naruto kid must be planning something big; if it involves another jinchuuriki then it has to be. But wait, Nii Yugito was reported as missing not too long ago, Kakashi did she seem to be involved with Naruto against her will?"

Kakashi shook his head. "Actually, it was the exact opposite; she seemed to be enjoying herself, a bit too much in fact." For a moment Kakashi paused and then asked, "So what are you going to do?"

Before Tsunade could say a word the door swung open violently again and Sarutobi Hiruzen walked in with a peppered expression on his face. "This is what we'll do!" He announced. "We will revive the search for Uzumaki Naruto and bring him back here as an S-class criminal, dead or alive."

Kakashi's eye went wide, "S-sarutobi-sama-…." He began to say, but Sakura interrupted him.

"Wh-what, b-but-"

"Sakura!" Tsunade barked, before turning to the former Hokage. "I agree, but… are you sure about that last part, I've heard about your connection to that boy."

Sarutobi seemed conflicted for a moment and then replied slowly. "As sure as I'll ever be. And don't you worry about the search, I have someone for that; I would suggest that you focus on finding the Kazekage." He looked over at Sakura and Kakashi. "Are you two sure that you did not see him leave?"

Kakashi shook his head. "Unfortunately I didn't, after Gaara's transformation; I immediately left to pursue a fleeing Akatsuki member. I can't say whether or not Gaara left with Naruto."

"And I was…uh… still unconscious at the time so I...didn't…really… see anything either." Sakura said, nervously pressing her fingers together. "The only one who would have seen anything was Lady Chiyo and she…" Sakura trailed off.

Sarutobi sighed deeply. "Fine," he said, turning around and heading towards the door. "Kakashi get some rest. Let's go Tsunade; we've got a lot to discuss."

"Oh wait!" Shikamaru exclaimed. "What are we gonna do about Nii Yugito?"

"We can't do anything." Tsunade replied. "Alert Kumo about this, they will have to decide what happens to her."

"Hai," Shikamaru responded. Tsunade then nodded and left the room behind the former third Hokage. After the door closed, the room became instantly still. The buzz of the incandescent ceiling lights were the only thing that could be heard.

Kakashi then sighed like a depressed child, breaking the silence. He eased himself back down, under his covers; although the entire time his sheets covered just enough of his face to mimic the effect that his mask had.

"Where did I go wrong?" he asked into the air.  
>XXXXXXXXXX<p>

As soon as Naruto set foot into the lands bordering Gunraku he immediately knew that something was wrong. Call it the fox's intuition but he had a serious hunch that now wasn't the time to go back home, moreover, he felt that an abrupt about-face was necessary if he wanted to complete The Plan. That meant no rest stops, no breaks, only forward motion; progress.

For now he would have to say goodbye to his little home in Gunraku.

He, Yugito, and Gaara had split up after they escaped from the Akatsuki hideout. He needed to be extra careful from now on and obey his newly installed number one rule: never stray from The Plan! He had already witnessed what straying could do with his little stunt at the hideout. He should never have even gone to rescue Gaara. With the effects of his seal, which triggered an excess of adrenaline and testosterone in Gaara's body, Gaara should have been more willing to use his beast's chakra and escape on his own. But of course Naruto just had to ensure that Gaara escaped.

But now because of his foolishness, Konoha not only knew that he was active but they also knew who his accomplice was. Yugito would definitely face some adversity in the future and the future seemed closer than ever.

Naruto slapped his face and pulled his hood down lower over his face. He was heading in the opposite direction of Gunraku now, towards Kusagakure. He had some personal business to attend to at Tenchi Bridge. And maybe if he was lucky, he would get to meet his old buddy.

That emo bastard.  
>XXXXXXXXXX<p>

Jiraiya walked into his former sensei's office with a deep scowl on his face. There next to the Sandaime Tsunade sat with her arm thrown over the back of his brown leather sofa, her other hand guided a curved saucer filled to the brim with clear sake toward her lips. She quaffed the liquor down and gave him a look. "Well?" she asked, arching her eyebrow like a mother waiting for a child's explanation.

Jiraiya sighed and shook his head. "No luck, the kid's not home; I waited for as long as possible and he didn't show at all. Either he's taking an extended vacation or he knows that we're looking for him."

Sarutobi was standing by the open window leaking a plume of bitter smelling smoke from his pipe. "I see" he responded.

"Damn," Tsunade exclaimed, "two weeks and this kid still hasn't come home yet? How can one child disappear under the radar so efficiently?"

"You've taught him very well, Jiraiya." Sarutobi said solemnly.

Jiraiya simply sighed and plopped down next to Tsunade; he arched his back and whipped his head up to look at the ceiling. "Wish I could say that I'm proud of the kid."

Tsunade snapped her fingers, and a tall ANBU with plain brown hair walked out of the shadowed corner in the office and dropped to one knee. "Hai, Hokage-sama!" he said.

"I am assigning you as the temporary leader of Team Kakashi. You will serve as Kakashi Hatake's replacement under the codename: Yamato; now please remove you mask." He obeyed her instructions and revealed his face; the blank countenance of almost all ANBU was drilled deeply into his expression. She could tell just by looking at him, he was a seasoned leader. She continued, "Team Kakashi will operate as a three-man cell; the third teammate will be from the ROOT division, are you aware?"

Yamato nodded, "I am aware." He replied.

"Then you are to meet with your team and immediately head for Tenchi Bridge."

"Hai."  
>XXXXXXXXXX<p>

Sakura watched Yamato from the dense underbrush; or rather she watched his imitation of Sasori's puppet Hiruko. She had to give it to him; Yamato wasn't an ANBU captain for nothing. That was quite possibly the best imitation that she'd ever seen, including the voice.

Silently crouching next to her was her new pale-faced partner, Sai. She didn't know what to think of him, other than he looked _way_ too much like Sasuke. He was sort of an enigma, hard for her to read, his face was always expressionless so she never really knew what he was thinking. He wasn't an ANBU for nothing either, his methods of surveillance were… unique, to say the least. He was a great artist, she would say that.

As Yamato slowly stalked onto the bridge, a man in a grayish purple cloak revealed himself, seemingly sliding into view. He walked to the middle of the bridge and stood, looking at the vista as if to admire the view.

The wind blew rather ominously. As Yamato approached him, the man pulled back his hood and said, "It's good to see you again…Sasori-sama. It's been five years hasn't it?"

Sakura got a good look at the man's face and gasped. To her surprise it was none other and Yakushi Kabuto! Yamato wasted no time with idle chit-chat and cut straight to the chase. "Were you followed?" he asked.

"No, we're fine." Kabuto responded. "We don't have much time; I'm risking my life by just being here."

"Tell, me what you know about Orochimaru's hideouts, and Uchiha Sasuke." Yamato said in his gruff voice.

Kabuto then began relaying whatever he knew to Yamato; the wind had picked up so Sakura couldn't really hear them that well. Several minutes went by and it seemed as if Kabuto had finished speaking because he held out his hand toward Yamato.

Sakura tensed, she could feel it, Yamato was about to make a decision any moment now. His long sleeve lurched and Yamato aimed a kunai out at Kabuto's neck, however, as the cold metal neared its target the wind stood still and a tall pale man with long black hair appeared behind Kabuto. A snake coiled itself around the man's body, as if it was his companion.

Sakura's heart then went still; she could feel herself start to sweat. Orochimaru, he was here…

"This sounds like an interesting conversation, mind if I join in?" Orochimaru asked with an unquestionably sinister smile. His snake's tongue tasted the air for a moment and locked eyes with Yamato and hissed loudly. Yamato had jumped out of his disguise right before it was smashed into a rain of wood chips and fabric by the snake's rock hard skull.

Orochimaru laughed very slowly. "Well seems like we have a rat in our midst." Then he did the most unbelievable thing ever, he made eye contact with Sakura and sneered. She gulped down the bile that formed in her throat and steeled herself; without a second thought she jumped out of the underbrush and took a position next to Yamato; Shortly after Sai followed as well.

Kabuto then smiled and adjusted his glasses which made Yamato frown. The ANBU stood fully erect and said, "I don't get it, I thought you were under Sasori's jutsu."

Kabuto threw his shoulders back with a kind of lackadaisical swagger, as if he was speaking to a little kid. "Orochimaru-sama broke that jutsu, years ago, over time I simply realized that following Orochimaru-sama was the right thing to do and _chose_ to remain by his side." He then locked eyes with Sakura and adjusted his glasses accordingly. "Where's that little blond boy, last I remember he was on your team right?" Sakura tensed what an affect the mere mention of his Naruto's essence had on her. The mention of the smallest of his many traits sent a chill down her spine; froze her up and sealed her lips. Like a leaf chilled over with the early winter morning frost, still and lifeless before the world. Had he said anymore she feared that she would wilt away, or fall limp like the dead. Naruto was gone, even worse, he had gone bad.

Orochimaru let out a rough laugh and rested his hand on Kabuto's shoulder, "Come now Kabuto, are you blind? Can't you see that he is among them?" Kabuto turned around, but Orochimaru clamped down on to his head and spun it back around, he pointed with his long pale slender finger. "Look past this lot" Orochimaru said. Kabuto did as he was told and narrowed his eyes, immediately the persistent troop of leaf underlings blurred out of focus and the blond tuft of hair meters behind them became clear. Lo and behold, the runt was here! Naruto, the demon boy, was leaning on the railing of the bridge with a devilish smile. the others spun around, Sakura the quickest, and locked their gazes on their blond escapee. Sakura gasped and took a step back. He was here again, not again, why again? Why was he here, now of all times? "Who is that?" Yamato said, exchanging glances between both sides of the bridge, wary to not let either enemy out of his sight.

"N-naruto..." Sakura muttered. Yamato immediately recognized the name, as would all men at his level. He was required to memorize the _every_ name in the bingo book; it was a shame that Uzumaki Naruto got his name in there at such an early age. He was a bit unsure of what to do at the moment; although with Orochimaru being the more dangerous threat, he was have to focus on him first. Yamato shifted slightly over in Orochimaru's direction.

"You don't have to be wary of me" Naruto said. "I'm not here to pose a problem to Leaf, I want"—he locked eyes with Orochimaru—"him." Naruto began walking and then soon broke out into a sprint, his rapid footsteps pounded against the wooden bridge. He flicked both wrists and out came two gleaming thin blades from his sleeves. "Where's Sasuke?" Naruto yelled.

Kabuto chuckled and leaned forward into a lazy sprint as well. Yamato and Sai took their positions—Sai facing Naruto and Yamato facing Kabuto. Sakura was the only one who stood frozen, although Orochimaru hadn't moved either. As the gap between him and his obstacle shrank, Naruto poured chakra into his legs gave a mighty leap into the air. For a moment he gazed down at his pale-faced enemy and for a moment he grimaced. The boy looked almost exactly like Sasuke, which of course caused him to grind his teeth. Was he supposed to be some type of replacement? Bullshit, that's what this all was. A shinobi defects from his home village and like that the village is able to produce a sub-par doppelganger replacement. Konoha had probably already replaced him as well, but then again who could mimic the power of a nine-tailed demon fox? Answer: no one could.

He was the only sui-generis Nin in Leaf. Even the Hokage could be reproduced, like they had many times.

He heard the venomous hiss of Orochimaru's snake just in time to stab the body of his blade all the way through its head and rip it out with a grunt. He landed squarely several meters in front of Orochimaru.

His long age-dried hair danced wildly as he threw his head back in laughter. "So I see you've grown boy"—he noticed the slash through the headband tied on Naruto's arm and his gazed relaxed—"and a great deal wiser."

Kabuto stopped short on his charge and spun around, "Lord Orochimaru-sama!" he yelled and charged Naruto again with glowing palms. Behind Kabuto, black outlined white eagles pursued, as well as a strip of serpentine wood from Yamato's palm.

Naruto paid attention to neither enemy, his rock hard gaze carved onto his face. A massive shadow enveloped the sides of the bridge as two tidal waves of Naruto jumped onto the bridge and into the fray. Right before Kabuto reached him he was engulfed as well, hacking and slashing away with his hands at any and every clone that charged him.

"Now that that's taken care of, where's Sasuke?" Naruto said once more.

Orochimaru palmed his chin once more, this certainly was interesting. "For what reason would you want to see _my Sasuke?_" Naruto spat at his feet, the comment enraged him, obviously.

"Don't talk like you own him."

"Oh but I do, he sold himself to me after all."

"You're starting to piss me off." His blood began to boil and so did his chakra. Orochimaru noticed the bubbly redness beginning to envelop Naruto's body. In the background more and more of Naruto's clones began to grasp at their necks and explode into smoke. "Sasuke's not your toy." Naruto seethed behind clenched teeth. Protruding canines and a ghastly expression, a rabid animal dying from its own thirst for blood. The boy wanted it—a battle—he craved it badly and clawed at it hungrily. The best thing to do would be to give the boy what he wanted, right? When an orphan stuck his hand out to be fed, the only sensible thing to do was to feed him right?

So be it Naruto; for you, only the best, sustenance, and everlasting nourishment! Naruto's calves thudded against the surface; his hidden blades sank back in while his claw came out. The bubbly red chakra enveloped his arm entirely…

Naruto ripped his claws across Orochimaru's face, carrying him through the wood of the bridge—through the ground—and then into the dense foliage of the bordering trees. Immediately what was left of Naruto's clones erupted into violent plumes of smoke, leaving a cloud the size of an enlarged Akimichi in their wake.

Three tails loosely formed themselves at Naruto's rear, vulpine ears sprouted like blossoming flowers—all at once. Out of the smoke, a pink blur flew into the air high above Naruto and clenched her fist.

"Narutoo-", Sakura stopped short of her battle cry one she got a look at her former teammate. He arm wobbled with a certain hot flash of fear. The bloodthirsty child would have none of this; one burning glare from those glowing coal eyes sent Sakura's body flailing back toward the opposite end of the bridge. Fortunately Yamato made it in time to catch her before she cracked her skull open. In Yamato's arms she cracked her lid open a bit, getting one faint look at Naruto—they made eye contact—before closing it completely. Naruto… had changed, he was an enemy. Naruto stood still for some seconds, seemingly too overwhelmed by his own copious amount of chakra, when Orochimaru came staggering out of the trees and back onto the bridge, part of his face peeling off with an under-layer of someone else's skin showing.

"I'd be much more interested in testing how strong _my_ _Sasuke-kun _has grown… by pitting him against you, don't you think Naruto-kun?" Orochimaru questioned.

The bubbly cloak then got a lot thicker and redder in color; and it looked almost as if the cloak was boiling. As the wind kicked up more and more chakra leaked out of Naruto's body, adding a sickening crimson to his aura. The bloodthirsty child crouched low, the chakra got stronger.

For a moment, Orochimaru locked eyes with Naruto—he saw the submerged lair in which the Kyuubi resided, and looked the beast itself in the eye; and it roared, terribly. A crater imprint appeared where Naruto stood and the bridge shook violently with the chakra influenced wind, popping sections of its railing out randomly. That's when someone decided to move, Kabuto, still behind Naruto charged.

Naruto turned around and released a mighty roar that sent Kabuto flying back and at the same time completely destroyed the section of the bridge Naruto was standing on. Orochimaru quickly jumped off the bridge and ran into the forest, like a loyal dog Naruto followed.

About five minutes later, the entire team was slapped by the force of a terrifyingly demonic shockwave.  
>XXXXXXXXXXXXX<p>

This letter didn't make any sense at all, perhaps it was forged, a clever trap in disguise, or something of the like. News of the Kazekage's return to his village was spreading like wildfire, and equally as much, news of Kumo's jinchuuriki, Nii Yugito as well. Strange really, they both just seemed to pop up at times too near to each other to be coincidence. After going missing, or being kidnapped, people did not just pop up. And yet… these two jinchuuriki did. The letter in Tsunade's hand swung loosely in between her thumb and forefinger.

She held it out in front of her like a rotten banana peel. "Is this a joke?" she asked Shikamaru's exceedingly morbid expression. He looked sick to his stomach; his shinobi instinct was bugging him too. Here in Konoha, they followed their guts, something was up and Gaara, or perhaps this Naruto kid was at the center of it. Perhaps Yugito? No, from Sakura's report, Yugito seemed to be the passive one out of the pack; was that it? Was Naruto the alpha-male in this picture? Overshadowing even the Kazekage himself? That is if Gaara was involved in this at all; if he was then it was highly unlikely.  
>Shikamaru grunted before scratching his head. "Yeah," he grunted, "a Suna messenger handed this over to us this morning. It sounds little fishy, but it's got the Kazekage's official seal on it, Gaara wrote this."<br>Tsunade placed the letter flat on her desk and scanned it once over again, very, very skeptically. The reality was right in front of her alright…

-'To the Five Great Shinobi Nations'—Tsunade read some more, skimmed it actually—'it is evident to me'—she read more and even though she'd already read this once before, her eyes still widened in disbelief—'that and alliance of beasts is in order.' Tsunade pounded at her desk like she always did whenever she read something she didn't like, and it always cracked the same way. The same vein protruded from her forehead, like it always did, and the same side of her lip raised with her anger…like it always did. Did Gaara understand what this meant? This was perhaps one of the most radical letters in shinobi history!

"An alliance… of j-jinchuuriki…" Tsunade stammered.

Shikamaru's eyes went wide. "What?" he asked loudly, sitting up straight in his chair. Tsunade didn't answer at first; she simply stared past Shikamaru blankly. After a few awkward seconds she finally answered.  
>"He wants every nation that has, or had a jinchuuriki to meet with him to discuss…an alliance, a fucking alliance of tailed beasts! He wants to link us through-"she stopped for a moment eying the photo of Naruto that was still on her desk; she picked it up. "-people like him." She finished.<br>XXXXXXXXXX

Once Naruto had roared until his primal desire for dominance was satisfied, he sunk low on all fours, deeply gazing, or so it seemed, at Orochimaru. With the azure blue of his eyes gone, Orochimaru could not tell whether or not those seemingly bottomless, snowy white eye holes were looking at or past him. They had so much primal depth to them!

Naruto was truly a magnificent, no—correction—_Kyuubi _was the magnificent one here. Taming such a belligerent child like Naruto-kun, a great feat, but Kyuubi's gargantuan presence surely aided, especially when Naruto's own weakness forced him to submit and accept the fox's power.

Orochimaru examined them with a dissector's eye, from the tip of his blood red vulpine ear-tips to each of his four blood red tail-tips. The boy was an exact likeness of the Kyuubi, akin to an illegitimate spawn of some sort, or perhaps a newly emerging manifestation of the fox's chakra. Whatever it was, it was fascinating! Orochimaru had to smile, there was no lid for the geyser screaming to burst. Naruto…is…the Kyuubi! He had to announce it, the boy had finally been possessed!

Deeply enveloped in his sickening chakra, Naruto did something that wiped the smile right off of Orochimaru's face. He laughed…

His voice warped by the Kyuubi's influence, with a few sickening cracks and squelches of muscle and bone Naruto fully erected himself upon two feet like a normal, civilized human being. He cracked his neck twice, each of his four tails twitched rhythmically as he did so. Orochimaru's eyes widened, his mouth agape, he clenched his fist so that the already pale skin shifted to an even whiter complexion. Then his face, blank like that of a fish's, slowly curled into another maniac grin. It seemed that his calculations were incorrect. Naruto-kun, what an impressive creature he was. _He _was not of the fox, but it was such that the fox was of him!

Naruto slowly raised his hand, his killer intent surged and immediately Orochimaru jumped back onto all fours. His cheeks bulged violently, threatening to burst with bile, and instead of bile an ocean of small to medium sized snakes erupted from his mouth. Naruto inhaled deeply as the green-scaled vermin closed in on him, and from his mouth he released a roar from the fiery depths of his chest so powerful that the ground along with Orochimaru's snakes was ripped away, peeling off the ground like old tape. It was then that Naruto raised his hand again and slammed it powerfully into the ground, and seconds later a red behemoth's claw exploded from underneath Orochimaru. The old snake was just slippery enough to evade, forcing Naruto's claw to pursue. All along the body of the battlefield Orochimaru ran with Naruto's claw right behind him. Orochimaru then dug his heels into the ground and fired his body at Naruto like an arrow. He opened his mouth impossibly wide and from his throat produced a gleaming blade.

Once again Naruto laughed, his four tails curled around to the front of his flowing red body and inches before Orochimaru's blade pierced him, Naruto caught Orochimaru's projectile body as easily as a seasoned Jonin would pluck a genin's kunai out of the air. Each of his four tails spread Orochimaru's arms and legs apart. With his demon's voice and Orochimaru's blade inches from his heart Naruto bared his many fangs. "I'll tear you apart!" he growled. Naruto's tails began to pull and like a trigger was pulled, Orochimaru's blade shot, hitting Naruto square in the heart, pushing him back several meters.

Orochimaru landed soundly on all fours, prying his mouth open, another pair of hands literally _prying_ his mouth open and out came another Orochimaru, slick like a newborn baby. There one exception, however, this Orochimaru had no legs; instead the long singular lower body of a snake was there in its place. Like a snake chasing its prey, Orochimaru slithered along the ground at an inhuman pace, closing the distance between Naruto and himself within seconds. His braced his fist and injected his deadly venom, a devastating punch that landed squarely on Naruto's jaw, sending Naruto's body parallel to the ground.

Was that enough to stop him though? Surely it was not. Out of Naruto's side, near his ribcage, a bubbling mass lurched and soon a second Naruto, clad in crimson skin and fangs, sprouted, and with one mighty swipe of his massive claw, tore Orochimaru completely in half. Orochimaru's upper half—airborne—flailed wildly in the air and for a moment Naruto thought him dead. But that bastard never went down easily did he? You could completely mutilate his body, destroy him even! Every single time, he came back kicking, awful little disease wasn't he? This battle was no different, Orochimaru was still Orochimaru, and Orochimaru always came back no matter what.

Orochimaru's airborne top half as well as his grounded bottom half both erupted with a torrent of snakes which linked together like wires and pulled both halves back together. Now repaired, Orochimaru slithered away to put some distance between the two.

The newly produced Naruto lost its form and retracted back into the original's body. "ENOUGH!" Naruto roared. His body then erupted, as if he were being pelted by hundreds of kunai, expelling hundreds of little light and dark balls of chakra. And as quickly as they were expelled the balls of chakra were retracted back to Naruto, lumping together in a violent mass of condensed foul chakra. As the balls of chakra condensed, they roughly formed a the shape of a sphere which morphed in color from dark purple to ink black and was steadily growing smaller.

Orochimaru jumped back about three dozen or so meters, and slammed his hands into the ground. From them sprouted a web of seals. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu: Sanju Rashomon!" Orochimaru yelled. Out of the ground, three gargantuan demonic gates with different Oni countenances erupted from the ground in front of Orochimaru.

On the other side of the gate, Naruto held his claw out and the potent ball of dark chakra gently floated down allowing Naruto to cradle it like Adam would his Apple of Eden. For a moment it held a peaceful glow even under the chaos of Naruto's stare. That peace was then extinguished as Naruto violently rammed the sphere of chakra into his mouth, devouring it whole, and for a moment its faint glow could be seen within his abdomen, pulsating. Moments later, Naruto's entire body inflated itself and the ground around him deepened into a crater.

The wind blew softly like the calm before the storm and out of Naruto's mouth trickled a small trail of smoke. The worst had yet to come, the real beast was not Naruto; beasts only destroyed and ravaged, it was all they knew. What was about to happen... was bestial. It was Naruto, this was a gift all wrapped up by the Kyuubi itself.

Naruto reared his head back and discharged the chakra violently, tearing away the ground as if it were made of fragile glass. Orochimaru waited anxiously, listening to the growing hum of Naruto's monstrosity of an attack. He could feel what was about to happen; he could already see that his three gates would be no match for what was about to happen; he could clearly point out where the metal would bend, how the trees would bow in fear, how the wind would correct itself and run in the direction that Naruto's chakra willed it.

The hum grew louder...

It would be instantaneous.

Louder still...

And it would be wonderful...

As the hum of violent chakra became deafening to the ear Orochimaru smiled wildly, lolling out his tongue. "Naruto...you truly are magnificent!" He said.

And then all that Orochimaru predicted came true. A blast of otherworldly proportions ripped his defenses to shreds.

XXXXXXXXXX

Bee was gullible to an extent… but sadly his brother wasn't. And not only was the brute uncannily perceptive he was also…well… a brute.

"You expect me to believe that?" The Raikage said impatiently, his fingers crackling with electricity. His eyes moved up and down quickly as he sized her up. What a timid little thing she was, at least in his presence. Nii Yugito: age fifteen going on sixteen, bleach blonde hair, delinquent… and the best vessel for the Nibi no Nekomata that Kumo has ever seen. Valuable, indispensable… untouchable, except she didn't even know that. Most Jinchuuriki didn't. The Raikage's harsh eye smoothed over to Bee who was behind Yugito, gently resting his hands on her shoulders.

Bee wasn't most jinchuuriki—his eye went back to Yugito—and neither was she. Kumo could probably boast that they had the two strongest Jinchuuriki in the world… if that was even worth some praise.

"I'll ask again… do you expect me to believe that?" He asked.

Yugito slowly looked up before looking back down at her thighs. "H-hai…" she muttered pathetically. "I-I needed time alone so I left the village without telling anyone. W-what's the problem, Bee does it all the time."

"EXACTLY!" Yugito flinched, "Bee does, all the time! But you… you _never_ leave the village, you never just get up and leave! For someone who spent fifteen years of her life locked up in her own little playpen, leaving the village just doesn't make sense at all."—he brought his face close to hers and lowered his voice—"it isn't like you."

Yugito said nothing in response. At that moment she berated herself for being such a loner.

"Fine then…Bee will you tell me? That is only…_if_ you know anything."

Bee stayed silent for a moment, tapping his upper lip. "Hmmm…" he said and Naruto's face came to mind.  
>"Oh yeah there was this…uh…" Naruto's face faded. "...this…guy? I think? Oh oh, here we go; I know…I saw…I saw… um…what the fuck? I-I don't remember it… but I was definitely there with… with…" Bee crossed his arms trying hard to remember.<p>

Inwardly Yugito smiled, Bee may have been the weirdest person she'd ever met, but he certainly was one of the most trustworthy.

The Raikage sighed. "So even you won't tell me Bee? I see…" he slowly got out of his chair walked toward the door, upon opening it he looked back. "When you two are ready to cut the crap and tell me the truth then come see me; now if you'll excuse me I have a meeting to attend." And with those final words, The Raikage slammed the door close, his heavy footsteps fading dully.

As soon as they were alone Yugito spun around in her chair to countenance held the cheer of a child. "Great job Bee! I'm sure he doesn't believe you but it at least bought us some time to think of something."—she patted him on the arm—"I actually didn't think you had it in you to lie to your brother."

Bee stopped her right there with a quick glance. "I-I was planning on telling him everything but the stuff about that Naruto kid… and then as soon as I tried remembering it…I-I forgot it…everything." Bee said looking at his clenched fist. "I couldn't remember a single thing, but now… I do."

XXXXXXXXXX

The smoke cleared and as predicted... everything was gone. Orochimaru found himself upright, head in the dirt; his legs twitched. After he dug himself out he spat some blood and smiled at the aftermath. He was right, his defenses were no match for Naruto's attack, he'd actually overestimated his technique, believing that it would be able to withstand Naruto's blast. Well the damage was much worse, there wasn't anything left of his gates to be found! In the smoky distance he could see Naruto standing upright once again; the little Kyuubi spawn kept looking at the back of his claw. His guard was down? Or perhaps the boy thought him dead? Nevertheless...

The aged Sannin shakily fell to all fours with a sort of injured grace and like an arrow released from a bow his neck shout out. And out of his mouth the blade of his Kusanagi shot out like an even faster arrow released from a crossbow and pierced Naruto square in his heart, but it was clear that his blade was not strong enough to break any skin. The blade simply carried Naruto's body back until it crashed into the cliffs encasing Tenchi Bridge.

"Orochimaru-sama!" His head snapped at the sound of Kabuto's faithful voice; he found the boy sliding his way down the bowl of the crater toward him. Once he was withing proximity, clutching his ribs, Kabuto said, "L-lord Orochimaru-sama, we must leave at once."

Orochimaru waited for his blade to fully retract and then stared at Kabuto seriously for a moment, and then resigned to agreement. "Very well," he said stagnantly.

XXXXXXXXXX

Back at the cliffs of Tenchi Bridge, Yamato, and Sakura found themselves staring into a giant pother of dust and falling rocks where Naruto's red body had crashed. Apparently Sai, that little snake, had abandoned the team in pursuit of Orochimaru, perhaps his real objective from the start. Danzo's followers were never to be trusted and this was proof of it. One thing was made clear to Yamato at this point.

He realized why he was placed on this team, why he was chosen to replace Kakashi. Not because of his skill, or his cunning, nor his status. But because of what he could do that no other could. The current and previous Hokages most likely predicted that this Naruto child would show his face soon, and it was most likely due to the presence of his former teammates. Sakura was probably the attraction here; is files said that the boy was passionately infatuated with the girl ever since their times as meager Genin.

Yamato cast a quick glance at Sakura before taking some steps forward. He tightly gripped his wrist and held his palm out. "Let's see if that fire still burns Naruto..." he muttered.

The grand thing about him was that... well what he could do was...

It wasn't something that could be easily explained, only demonstrated. His palm glowed blue with the kanji for sit, seemingly branded into his skin. "Hokage-Shiki Jijun Jutsu - Ka-" Yamato began to say but stopped when he noticed the smoke clearing. "W-wha-.." he stammered.

Standing there was Naruto looking just as he had when he first arrived. Despite a few tears to his clothing he was completely normal! No claws, no fangs, nothing at all. In fact, his nonchalance made it seem as if he'd just finished sparring a genin.

"Ow, that hurt." Naruto said while rubbing his neck. "Gotta Kill that bastard next ti-"

"Don't move!" He heard someone say. Slowly he turned his head to look at the one who spoke. He gave a small smirk when he saw Sakura shrinking behind a brown-haired and rather plain looking man. "Uzumaki Naruto, under the Hokage's official orders I hereby place you under arrest!"

"Really?" Naruto asked, sounding bored. His bland expression faded when a entanglement of tree roots burst up from the ground and bound his arms and legs together, leaving him to flop on the ground like a fish.

"Yes, really." Yamato answered back, he then looked at Sakura. "Sakura, let's go." He then looked back at Naruto.. "We'll be back for you later, so stay put." Yamato turned to walk away, Sakura trailing behind him, she kept shooting him these scared glances every now and then.

"Sakura, can we talk?" Naruto asked, and immediately Sakura turned around, her eyes wide with a odd mixture of sadness and anxiety. She looked hopelessly desperate. At least he thought so. Naruto tilted over until he was able to look Sakura right in her eye, "Please?" He pleaded.

The plain looking man stepped in front of her and the wooden binds tightened to point of that Naruto actually felt pain. "Hey...ow... lighten up man! Look, look... I can help you guys."

"That's much too dangerous for me to even consider Uzumaki."

Naruto then sighed. "So you're just gonna leave me alone, that's also dangerous you know?" As an answer, Yamato made a ram seal and in seconds an exact copy of the man was standing over Naruto, hovering with a serious expression plastered on his face. Naruto grimaced, partially because of his rough binding and turned his head away. "And I thought I would get to see Sasuke, oh well." he muttered softly.

"Take him to Konoha," Yamato instructed.

Naruto scoffed, "A clone won't be able to hold me for long, no matter how strong you are." He said. That statement, no matter how convincing he sounded, was a bluff. In fact a clone _would_ be enough to hold him, more than enough actually, a small child would be able to take him down. He played it off well but he was exhausted almost to the point of collapsing. Truthfully, he'd just went all out, four-tails was in fact his limit, any further and he might have actually lost his mind to the fox.

Yamato laughed, "I'll take my chances," he said before nodding his head briefly at his clone who then loomed over him even more closely, raising his foot and with a sharp twist of wood, turning his foot into a large block of wood.

"Oh fu-" was all Naruto could say before the plain faced ANBU sent his wooden bludgeon rushing at his face.

XXXXXXXXXX

When Naruto woke up he was surrounded by looked around, and everything for as far as he could see, was white. He wondered exactly where he was, and then wondered whether or not he was dreaming, he'd heard of limbo before, perhaps this was the place? He yelled 'hello' into the open space only to hear his voice yell back at him ten times over. That was one hell of an echo.

"Hello" he then heard, but this time it was not his own voice saying hello but another's. It sounded like a small child's actually. "Down here." He heard and when he looked down he jumped back. Standing before him was a small orange fox, this one only had one tail and when it spoke its voice echoed as well. When it said 'here' it came out as 'here...here...here...' with each echo lowering in volume. Naruto squatted to inspect the the little fox, he knew this was potentially dangerous but what the hell. He gave it a little pat on the head.

Then the oddest thing happened, as he touched it, he felt its soft fur for only a moment and then nothing but air, or whatever it was that floated around down here in potential-limbo. The fox was gone! "What the-" Naruto began.

"Are you coming...coming...coming?" The little fox asked from behind him. Naruto immediately turned around, falling on his bottom in the process. The little thing was standing near a flight a stairs that sank into the ground, at the bottom of which was only darkness. The fox giggled, "C'mon...c'mon...c'mon!" It said trotting down into the darkness.

"Wait that wasn't there before...hey wait where are you-" But the little fox was gone. Strangely, there was something that made Naruto want to follow, something about that little fox, something good. Despite its clear origins, Naruto had the strangest inkling about the fox, it meant good. He could sense nothing but good will from it, yet, within that dark pit... he felt nothing but ominous hostility. Naruto stood erect; that mattered not, the little fox had some light in it. And he'd be damned if he let it get swallowed up by that overwhelming darkness, no, he'd hold onto that light. It would be his guide, and he its protector.

Naruto dashed down the black stairwell after the fox. Down he went, and the deeper and deeper he went the stronger the ominous feelings got. Something was down here and Naruto already knew what. By the time he'd gotten to the bottom he'd spotted the little fox trotting down a hallway that seemed as long horizontally as the stairs were vertically.

He called out to the fox and immediately noticed that his echo had ceased. "That's odd" Naruto thought to himself before continuing on. There were many things about this place that Naruto thought to be odd. The entire hallway was moist, the ceiling was covered in an entanglement of pipes that seem to grow out like wild vines, it was uncomfortably warm and there was this awfully sour smell that never ceased its assault on his nose! Limbo really sucked. But there was one thing that was the oddest above everything else. Naruto only noticed it after about half an hour of running. He had been going full sprint this entire time, yet...he wasn't tired. A clear indicator that this was not the normal world. The normal world didn't have these impossibly long tunnels, nor these foul smells, or little talking foxes.

Speaking of foxes, Naruto almost tripped over it when the one he was following came to an abrupt stop. "We're here," it said. Naruto stepped out into a giant hall with a cell with bars that stretched all the way up to the ceiling. The twisted metal pipes he'd seen before grew in abundance here, they were everywhere. It was then that Naruto closed his eyes, shaking his head for not realizing that he'd been here before. Actually he'd been here a few times, once right before he fought Sasuke in the Valley of End, a few times when training with Jiraiya, and just briefly before his fight with Orochimaru. It occurred at varying times like after extended periods of using the Kyuubi's chakra or sometimes just randomly . And honestly he hated it, not because it was a clear indicator that he was still not in full control of the Kyuubi, but because of the frequency at which it occurred. It crept up on him at the worst of times, it was like a sickness that he couldn't cure himself of. Or perhaps it was the Kyuubi itself haunting him, like an eternal specter, constantly looming over his shoulder? Maybe these happenings were warnings, that one day he _really_ would loose control and become that demon that everyone thought him to be.

The mere thought sent chills up Naruto's back. He could remember the frequent nights when he would wake up screaming in cold sweat, his chest heaving, his heart thumping like a jackhammer. And every night that it did occur, he could feel something growing, an apparent truth that he could no longer deny.

Behind the gates two giant eyes and a fanged mouth to match snapped open and released a roar that reached deep down into the pit of his being. He could no longer deny it...the Kyuubi was beginning to affect him.

The roar grew louder still, until he was forced to close his eyes from the wind.

Naruto's body jolted as he snapped his eyes open, gasping for breath while at the same time attempting to sit upright. All the symptoms were there, he face was moist and clammy, his chest felt heavy, and his throat felt so sore that swallowing came with some difficulty; he had been screaming in his sleep again. It had happened again...and it was getting worse. Despite how confident a facade he put on about his control of the Kyuubi, the truth was that Naruto had his limits too; at his current level his limit was four tails.

He could never, _ever, _tell anyone about this, not even those who he trusted the most, his pride wouldn't allow it.

Naruto observed that he was in a dim cavernous cell, behind him the long metal bars broke the pattern of uniform brown. The cell had only a door, one way in one way out, simple, tacit. Using the granite wall, or perhaps some other material, as he support, Naruto sat upright. His hands were bound behind his back, his legs yet remained free of each other, yet still, he found two paper seals wrapped both his ankles and a small ball of iron attached to his left ankle.

Like a dog they had him bound, like a dog, or a tool? Yes much more fitting of his situation. Just as Naruto was ready to let his mind fall back to slumber he heard the thick metal bars release a large groan as they were cranked upward. A sharp whistle pierced into and around his cell, his ears twitched with irritation until he could stand it no longer and took a step outside into a brightly lit yard, well he couldn't really call it a yard because it was still inside. Of course shinobi criminals could never be let outside, the things that they could do.

Naruto breathed out a chuckle, Konoha was prepared for every situation weren't they?

XXXXXXXXXXX

Tsunade sat next to her former sensei as he rubbed his temples slowly. She shook her ever present sake saucer a bit before taking a swig. She savored the slow burn it gave as it ran down her throat, warm sake always went down smoothly. After releasing a satisfied sigh Tsunade contemplated giving the rest of her saucer to her sensei. He looked like he needed it, so she poked him and when he looked up, stuck the clear liquid close to his nose, hoping that the scent would gain his approval of the drink.

For a moment he stared at it and then shook his head. "I'm much too old for that." He said slowly pushing the saucer back toward Tsunade. It seemed like he'd been saying that a lot these days. He was much too old for everything, too old for alcohol, too old for this, too old for that; it was all the same.

"So, what will become of the boy?" Tsunade asked, before taking down the rest of her liquor. "Won't you go and see him?"

"No, I have nothing to say to him. Naruto has made his choice, I simply thought that he would have chosen the right one. As he is now, Danzo can have him. I approve of your plan."

Despite his words Sarutobi wanted nothing more than to go and see Naruto, just the thought of seeing the boy once more, just once more time... it was overwhelming. He knew not of what might have happened if he actually _did_ get to see Naruto. Dozens and dozens of time he would play the scene out in his head. In one scene he embraced Naruto with tears in his eyes and then in another he brought a strong backhand and struck the boy on his cheek.

He truly did not know what he would do.

"So he really means that much too you?" Tsunade asked.'

"Yes, he does." Sarutobi replied. Tsunade then stood abruptly from her seat, and walked quickly toward the door. "W-where are you going?"

Just as she was about to close the door, Tsunade gave him a serious expression. "Going to speak to the little runt that has my sensei so worried."

XXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto was led out of his cell by two guards, both were Anbu. One looked pretty normal but the other, the one he couldn't help but wonder about, he kept his eyes on. This Anbu walked with a certain sway, mature and seductive, the gait of a women well seasoned. Her long purple hair still had not dried from age, so she seemed young enough, but her body, it spoke with a language far before her. She knew the world, at least the majority of it, all of its finer qualities at best. Death, pain, sorrow... betrayal...loyalty., She'd seen and experienced it all.

Naruto had never bee so awestruck before in his life, what a woman she was! And no, he wasn't checking her out, despite him having good enough reason to, he simply was enthralled to be in contact with her presence. She didn't have the bearings of any Hokage, gosh no, but she held her own well enough. He probably would never see a woman finer than this.

"Um miss, Anbu-lady...uh hello?" She offered Naruto no answer, most likely because she was under orders to not speak to him, or she just didn't want to speak to him. It was most likely the latter, actually could have been both. After a few minutes of walking they arrived at a lower level of the prison, or so Naruto assumed, judging by how much grittier everything around had become. The walls got dirtier, the floors came with less luster; Naruto was positive that they were underground. But for what?

Two huge doors swung out into a brightly lit room, a single incandescent bulb acting as the light source. A damn bright one too, the sudden change in light had Naruto seeing little reds and purples all over the place. There was a single table and two chairs directly under the hanging light bulb. Then his two Anbu escorts took positions on either side of the doors he'd come in through; one way in, one way out he supposed.

All the clarifying factors around him pointed toward one possible outcome and Naruto didn't like it one bit, in fact it made his lips and face twist into a grimace. It had all become obvious now, they were going to interrogate him, something he'd expected from the start. The remaining question was who? Who was to be the lucky interrogator that tamed the beast and made it divulge its innermost demons? His mind shifted to many potential faces; Kakashi, the old man, maybe even Iruka.

Naruto took his seat on one side of the table, there he shook his head. No not even Konoha was that stupid, all these people had some type of emotional connection to him, it had to be someone he never really knew or, and this seemed to be the most probable outcome, someone he'd never even met.

Maybe that battle-hardened hawk he'd seen during the Chunin exams, what was his name. Ibiki...

Perhaps him? Yes, it had to be. However, Naruto was surprised to see that when those double doors opened again it was not Ibiki that walked in but a rather well endowed woman with bright blonde hair. A few moments ago Naruto had seen the most tantalizing woman in his life and just now... the moment repeated itself, except this time it came tenfold with a rather embarrassing discharge. When Naruto scrambled to cover his slightly dripping nose he realized that his hands were still bound, so he opted for his shoulder, rubbing as best as he could.

Who was this woman? When she sat down, her ample bosom disobeyed and moved in the opposite direction only to reluctantly bounce back down. What he'd gone through before with the Anbu woman was the appreciation of a female maturity. But now this was completely different. This lady was just plain hot!

"Hey," she barked, "I'm up here!" Naruto immediately redirected his eyes. And as quickly as he'd looked up, he'd looked back down, not out of the desire to ogle her rather the out of the fear of her eyes. She had big brown orbs that, akin to the sway of the Anbu woman, spoke in a language much too aged for them. She looked to be a bit older than Kakashi yet she held the eyes of one as experienced as his sensei, Jiraiya.

"My name is Tsunade, I am the current Hokage."She said in a stern voice. That truly woke Naruto up, his head snapped back up, his lips trembling a bit.

"W-what, the old man he's..." Naruto began, afraid to complete the sentence out of fear of its validity.

Cool relief washed over him when Tsunade said, "Still alive." She eyed him over once more, eliciting the hairs on the back of his neck to stand at attention. "So you still do hold some connection to this village after all, that's good to know."

"Wha-..." But Tsunade continued before he could finish.

"Uzumaki Naruto, I've heard quite a lot about you, especially in these past weeks."

Naruto swallowed whatever meaningless words he was about to say and begun his sentence anew; he felt the tension drop. He was back to normal. "And what of it, will you have me kept in prison for life?" He asked calmly.

"Actually," she said this while nonchalantly placing he chin in her palm, "I may just have you killed for it. You defect from your village, then years later assault a Kage and then somehow you show up at the scene of his captivity and only after the arrival of your presence, that same Kage loses control of his Bijuu, and you're listed as the reason why yet another Jinchuuriki went missing, keep it up and it capital punishment may be right around the corner."

"Okay, I get it, you don't have to keep going."

"But I can, I hope you understand that." Tsunade replied.

Naruto sighed and leaned back in his chair. "Alright, I'm a slimy little bastard, I'm lowly, you ask the questions, you hold all the cards, I understand."

Tsunade then smiled, "Good, now I have someone I'd like you to meet."

The doors opened once again and a severely bandaged man walked through. "Ah we meet at last, Uzumaki Naruto. You can call me... Danzo."

* * *

><p>Okay, so I'm done. I just wanted to focus this chapter a bit more on the inner workings of our pal Naruto, you know let the readers into his mind. And he doesn't like it, so keep in mind, I could be killed for what I have just revealed! The only way to prevent my death is to give Naruto a large amount of PM's, or reviews, whichever. Now hurry before he goes four tails on me!<p> 


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